The Halbe forest cemetery is mainly home to the victims of the Halbe
Halbe are buried here. More than 40,000 people died in the heavy fighting at the end of
April 1945.
Cemetery description
The municipality of Halbe is located in the Brandenburg district of Dahme-Spreewald,
about 60 kilometers south of Berlin. The Halbe forest cemetery is located in
seven hectares of woodland. The site consists of eleven large
Grave fields and was designed by Walter Funcke and Karl Foerster.
Occupancy
Around 24,000 victims of the Kesselschlacht von Halbe are buried in the forest cemetery - German
german soldiers and civilian casualties. The dead of other victim groups, including
soviet forced laborers and in the German execution site Berlin-Tegel
and those murdered at the German execution site in Berlin-Tegel and the Ketschendorf internment camp
Cemetery have also been given their final resting place.
History
Parallel to the Battle of Berlin, on April 27, 1945, barely
german troops and civilians fleeing to the west in a small wooded area between
a small wooded area between Märkisch Buchholz and Halbe by Soviet troops
Halbe by Soviet troops. Large parts of the German military units were able to escape to the west on
29. and 30 April to break out of the encirclement to the west. During the fighting
around 40,000 people lost their lives in the fighting, including many civilians
Civilians who had fled from the eastern territories with their refugee treks
into the cauldron. The warm early summer favored the decomposition
Decomposition process of the corpses. In order to counter the risk of epidemics, the local
local Soviet occupying power ordered the dead to be buried on the spot, either individually
or in mass graves, in gardens or shell craters.
In the woods and along the roadsides, numerous temporary graves were thus created
Gravesites. Individual graves were even created in the villagers' gardens
created.
It was not until 1951 that the reburial of the dead scattered around Halbe
scattered around Halbe to the central cemetery. The state of Brandenburg carried out
this action together with the church, which established a single parish in the village
in the town. Pastor Ernst Teichmann took over the position and, with the help of the
and against the resistance of the local authorities, he completed the registration
of the graves known until then.
From 2002 to 2023, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) has maintained
of the largest and most important site in Brandenburg. Since then
since then, the weathered and sometimes illegible grave markers have been gradually
replaced and supplemented, the burial areas re-planted and groups of symbolic crosses
erected. in 2004, a total of 49 name plates with the approximately
4.600 names of the known victims of the Ketschendorf camp. 2006
the paths were renewed and regular maintenance work was carried out on the grounds
Carried out on the site. Since January 1, 2024, the Amt Schenkenländchen
responsible for the care and maintenance of the war gravesite
War cemetery.
Special feature
Since May 10, 2012, the Volksbund has been offering an electronic cemetery guide at the forest cemetery in Halbe
has been offering an electronic cemetery guide. An audio guide leads through the
Memorial and provides information on the graves and the battle of Halbe
of Halbe.
