The German war cemetery at Motta St. Anastasia (Italian: Cimitero militare germanico di Motta Sant'Anastasia) was opened to the public on September 25, 1965 and was rededicated on April 29, 2011 after extensive renovation.
Cemetery description
The German war cemetery at Motta St. Anastasia was laid out as a crypt, with the sarcophagi containing the remains of the dead in the inaccessible basement. The cemetery is the final resting place of 4,561 German war dead and has a rectangular area of around 44 by 30 meters. In the travertine-paved forecourt at the entrance to the complex is a stele with an inscription stating the number of buried soldiers and pointing out that 451 of them are not known by name. A building next to the cemetery parking lot houses administrative offices and a reception hall. Visitors will find a list of names of the war dead and information leaflets there.
A staircase leads from the cemetery's access path to five courtyards located higher up. The first courtyard contains the comrades' grave. A slab in the middle bears an inscription for the 28 known and three unknown soldiers who lie here. Behind it is a bronze sculpture: the figure of a dying youth, stretched out on a plinth. A further eight plaques document the names of 128 German soldiers whose graves have not yet been found.
History
As a bridge to North Africa, the island of Sicily was of great strategic importance during the Second World War. A large number of German soldiers wounded in North Africa were brought back to Sicily and died there. In July 1943, Allied troops landed on the island. The ensuing hostilities lasted several months and cost the lives of around 5,400 German soldiers.
The German-Italian War Graves Agreement signed in 1955 made it possible to build a war cemetery on Sicily to provide a final resting place for all the German soldiers who died there. The Göttingen architect Diez Brandi designed the site, which was inaugurated on September 25, 1965. From the end of 2009 to the beginning of 2011, the buildings were thoroughly restored and the cemetery was rededicated on April 29, 2011.
Special feature
The athlete Carl Ludwig Hermann "Luz" Long was buried at the Motta St. Anastasia war cemetery. He was a multiple German champion and European record holder in athletics and won the silver medal in the long jump at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. A friend of Jesse Owens, Long died as a soldier in Sicily on July 14, 1943.
