Ive just been watching a film on youtube titled unpublished german photographs of the ostfront (they may or may not have been previously published )but i was just wondering as there is many photos of german gravesites as the germans pushed east , what happened to the gravesites when the russians/soviets retook these areas . Did the soviets respect them or as i suspect bulldoze them over and leave no mark (there is no disrepect meant on my part by saying this as i wouldnt blame them if they did ) and if they didnt do they still exist today ? phil
Phil, The Russians destroyed the CWGC Indian Cemetery South of Berlin near Zossen. The Large Panzer HQ was taken over by the Soviets and the area used for Tank training. It was only several short years ago renovated and reopened. You can only wonder what happened to German Graveyards in the East. I know that there are German teams out still searching for unmarked graves in the East. Regards Tom
I believe a lot of the German graveyards were - as you suspect - bulldozed. One grave I know of where this happened is that of Auto Union racing driver Rudolf Hasse, who died in 1942. You can see a picture of his grave in this thread at Axis History, but the exact location of this cemetery is now unknown. Axis History Forum • View topic - Need some help with ID of Rudolf Hasse
I thought as much in such a horrific war , i guess the germans mass buried the russian dead if they bothered to bury them at all so i suppose the whole of the eastern front will be one huge unmarked graveyard with only the graves of the victorious soviets that were killed after the tide had turned having a proper gravesite . Very sad for all relatives involved with no way of knowing where there loved ones lie on either side .
The Germans made huge efforts (and continue to do so) to identify graves in Eastern Germany itself. I know that the area around Halbe has much good work done already on this. but in Russia there would be little or no enthusiasm for this, I'm sure
The Germans made huge efforts (and continue to do so) to identify graves in Eastern Germany itself. I know that the area around Halbe has much good work done already on this. but in Russia there would be little or no enthusiasm for this, I'm sure An interesting piece on the German dead in Eastern Europe: German war dead no one wants to remember - Times Online
Well found Just about to post that up Jonathan as I think it was mentioned a couple of times on here. Here are a couple more links on the same debate. German WWII soldiers laid to rest in Cheb - Radio Prague German war-dead find final resting place in Czech soil - Feature | Earth Times News