More than 15,000 soldiers lost their lives during the Second World War on Greek territory. Their graves were scattered across 437 communities and numerous islands in the Aegean Sea. Thanks to the cooperation of the Greek government, the German War Graves Commission was able to begin recovering and reinterring the German dead starting in April 1959. The recovery work was completed by the end of November 1960.
The sarcophagi containing the mortal remains of the fallen from the mainland and the Greek islands (except Crete) were initially transferred to the Xenia monastery for the Dionyssos-Rapendoza war cemetery. The sarcophagi containing the mortal remains of the German fallen from the island of Crete were transferred to the Gonia monastery on the island. They remained there until the development of the cemeteries at Maleme on Crete and Dionyssos-Rapendoza near Athens began as a result of the war graves agreement concluded between Greece and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1965, enabling the dead to find their final resting place there.
The approximately 5,500 Germans who fell in Crete were recovered from 62 scattered field graves and provisional graves and transferred to the German military cemetery in Maleme.