Berlin-Reinickendorf, St.-Sebastian-Friedhof

In 1989, the individual graves of the victims of war and tyranny scattered around the cemetery were merged to form a single complex right next to the chapel. Most of the dead in this complex died in the air raids on Berlin from the end of 1943 to the beginning of 1944 and from March 1945. Those seeking shelter in air-raid shelters were also often hit. The bombs caused entire houses to collapse, burying people beneath them. The dead were then laboriously recovered from the rubble. Other bomb victims who did not die in the rubble often died from shrapnel injuries. There are also 2 collective graves within the cemetery, each with bronze name plaques. One plaque commemorates 33 Polish forced laborers who died in an air raid in their labor camp in Graf-Rödern-Allee on 23.11.1943. Urns of concentration camp victims were buried in the second collective grave. Although no urn burials were actually permitted in Catholic cemeteries, an exception was always made here, as the dead were cremated in the concentration camps to prevent, among other things, the realization that the cause of death may have been something other than the cardiovascular failure usually stated. The relatives were not asked about burial wishes, but in those cases where urns were sent at all, they were allowed to bear all the costs of shipping. The dead buried here were predominantly Sinti and Roma of Catholic religion. During their imprisonment in the concentration camp, they had to sew a black corner onto their prisoner clothing to identify them as asocials, such as vagrants, beggars or so-called gypsies. To differentiate between them, political prisoners, for example, wore red, criminal prisoners green and homosexuals pink.