Aachen, Waldfriedhof

This war cemetery is home to 5078 war dead from various nations of the First and Second World Wars. World War I. World War I: 2455 II. World War I: 2623 4796 Germans 235 former Soviet Union 7 Poles 12 Yugoslavs 2 Belgians 1 Frenchman 3 Dutchmen 22 Other war graves at the Aachen Forest Cemetery The establishment of this war cemetery goes back to a council resolution of the city of Aachen on September 12, 1914. After the first war dead, the soldier Heinrich Gossen, had already found his final resting place here on August 8, 1914, the first official burial of fallen soldiers took place on September 25, 1914. By the end of 1918, 2,455 German and foreign war dead were buried in the Aachen cemetery of honour, most of whom had died as wounded and sick soldiers in Aachen's hospitals and military hospitals. On November 1, 1939, the city of Aachen had to create new cemeteries for the first fallen soldiers of the Second World War. In total, a further 2,623 war dead were buried in this cemetery of honour between 1939 and 1945. The 6.20 m high, 30-tonne stone cross made of Belgian granite was erected in the cemetery of honour on 26 October 1957. This mighty cross - formerly a gift from the city of Aachen - had previously stood in the German cemetery of honour in Ougrèe-Boncelles near Liège/Belgium. After the German soldiers of the First World War buried there were reburied in Lommel - the largest German war cemetery in Belgium - the stone high cross with the inscription: "Here rest German soldiers - 1914-1918 - 1939-1945" was returned to the city of Aachen. In 1960/1961, the cemetery of honour was partially redesigned by erecting new gravestones and grave crosses made of "Anröchter Dolomit". The last major reburial with 104 war dead took place in the early summer of 1961. Today, 5,078 war dead from 16 nations rest on this war cemetery, which is the largest in the former administrative district of Aachen and covers around 8.9 hectares. These include 4,796 Germans, 235 Russians, 15 Romanians, 11 Serbs, 7 Poles, 3 Dutch, 2 Belgians as well as one Frenchman, one Austrian, one Spaniard, one Hungarian, one Yugoslav, one Turk, one Ukrainian, one Indian and one Canadian. Among the dead are also numerous women, men and children who found their final resting place as bomb victims of the city of Aachen in plots 9 and 39 as well as 52 concentration camp victims whose urns were reburied from the Waldfriedhof to plot 8b of the cemetery of honor in August 1962.