The Böhönye war cemetery is located 40 kilometers south of Lake Balaton (Hungarian: Balaton). German dead of the Second World War rest there.
Description of the cemetery
The war cemetery is surrounded by hedges, trees and a wall. A gate leads to a covered entrance area and from there to the central memorial square, which is laid out as a quadrangle. In the middle is a flower bed and a stone memorial with a bilingual inscription.
At the back of the war cemetery, granite crosses mark the grave locations. The crosses bear two names of those buried there on each side. The graves of unknown war dead are also marked with crosses. At the memorial site and along the cemetery path, granite slabs bear the names of soldiers whose remains can no longer be recovered.
Burial
Around 54,000 German soldiers lost their lives in Hungary during the Second World War. 35.000 of them are known by name. The German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V.) has 617 reports for the First World War. Two thirds of all German war dead in Hungary were buried in 120 locations.
In the spring of 1945, Böhönye was located in the deployment area for the Wehrmacht's last major offensive. The unsuccessful "Spring Awakening" operation was part of the overall failed "Lake Balaton Offensive".
The Böhönye war cemetery is the collection and burial cemetery of the Volksbund in Somogy County. More than 2,000 dead from the Second World War have found their final resting place here.
History
The War Graves Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Hungary was signed on November 16, 1993. It came into force on December 23, 1994. The Volksbund's partner is the Hungarian Institute and Museum of Military History.
The Volksbund agreed with the Hungarian authorities at the end of the 1980s to lay out this cemetery. Work began with the reburial of around 300 German soldiers from the 1st Mountain Division. Further reburials from various locations followed between 1990 and 1993. The war cemetery was opened to the public on October 2, 1993.
