Maizeray

Département Meuse; 2,876 German war dead, First World War Among the dead are a nurse and three soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Austro-Hungarian army. The German military cemetery in Maizeray was established by the French military authorities after the end of the Second World War as a collective cemetery for German casualties, who at that time were still scattered around 60 surrounding communities and districts up to 20 kilometers away in temporary graves or were found during recultivation work in the abandoned battlefields. The dead belonged to no less than 39 different infantry divisions, reflecting the enormous wear and tear during the major battles, with the majority being older soldiers who had served in 9 Landwehr divisions. The Austrian-Hungarian soldiers The Austrian-Hungarian soldiers served in the Austro-Hungarian 35th Inf. Div., which had been sent to the Western Front in the late summer of 1918 with 3 other inf. divisions to support the German army. The artilleryman had already been deployed in the West since spring 1918. The soldiers resting here belonged to units whose home garrisons were in the Rhineland and Westphalia, as well as those in Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Saxony, Thuringia, West Prussia, Mecklenburg, Posen Silesia, Brandenburg, Kurhessen and Berlin (Guard). Repair work between the wars Initial work to improve the condition of the cemetery was carried out by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. (German War Graves Commission) on the basis of an agreement reached with the French military authorities in 1926. In the spring, 258 plane trees were planted. The communal grave was given a natural stone border with a memorial stone. This was followed by the enclosure of the entire site with a fence and hedge. However, the problem of permanently marking the graves remained unresolved due to a lack of foreign currency and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Final design Following the conclusion of the Franco-German War Graves Agreement on July 19, 1966, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. - with financial support from the German government - was able to carry out the final design of the German military cemeteries of the First World War in France. Young volunteers from the Volksbund had already begun the preparatory gardening work. in 1972, the previous temporary wooden grave markers were replaced with metal crosses with the names and dates of those buried here cast into them. Previously, young helpers had moved the 35-kilogram concrete foundations, which were transported by the German army, to the graves. 2,367 of the 2,876 fallen rest in individual graves; one remained nameless. In the communal grave with 540 victims, 446 remained unnamed. For religious reasons, the seven graves of the fallen of Jewish faith were marked with a natural stone grave stele instead of a cross, the Hebrew characters of which read: 1. (above) "Here rests buried .... ." 2. (below) "May his soul be bound into the circle of the living. A fundamental landscaping overhaul followed. A retaining wall with an entrance and stairs made of natural stone was built towards the higher road. At the same time, a parking lot was built. Finally, additional trees, shrubs and hedges were planted and the graves were landscaped. Maintenance: The cemetery is constantly maintained by the Volksbund's maintenance service.