The war cemetery Tallinn-Maarjamäe (German: Reval-Marienberg) is the burial place of the dead of the Second World War.
Cemetery description
The war cemetery on the Baltic coast covers an area of around 27,000 square meters. The central memorial square in the northern part is dominated by a 5.50 meter high stone cross. A plaque in front of the cross commemorates the German soldiers who rest here. 24 horizontal plaques list the names, birth and death dates of 2,156 buried soldiers in alphabetical order. Individual graves of the dead can no longer be reconstructed. 25 groups of crosses made of natural stone mark the cemeteries. An adjacent Soviet memorial with a monumental memorial (Maarjamäe Memorial, erected in 1980) protrudes into the German cemetery.
Occupancy
According to documents from the War Graves Commission, around 35,000 German war dead from the Second World War are buried in Estonia. These were originally spread over around 1,700 grave sites. According to estimates by the German Red Cross, around 10,000 Germans also died as prisoners of war in Estonia. The Tallinn-Maarjamäe military cemetery was established by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War as a supplementary cemetery.
History
The Wehrmacht cemetery was leveled after the end of the war. The Soviet memorial with the memorial was built on a small part of the site.
The war graves agreement between Estonia and Germany, signed on October 12, 1995, came into force on October 26, 1996. in 1997, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. reached an agreement with the Estonian administration on the redesign or new construction of the cemetery. The reburial service investigated the location of the grave blocks.
From 1997 to 1998, the Volksbund then built the new site on behalf of the German government. The Estonian government provided the land free of charge. Soldiers from the German Armed Forces took part in the construction of the cemetery in 1998 - for the first time in the Baltic States. The site was opened to the public on September 12, 1998.
On June 8, 2018, 84 war dead - mostly members of the German Navy - were laid to rest as part of a small memorial ceremony. They were reburied - their mortal remains had been recovered from the coasts of Estonia during the Second World War.
The Volksbund's initial partner was the State Monuments Inspectorate in Tallinn. In August 2022, responsibility in Estonia passed to the Ministry of Defense, which transferred responsibility to the Estonian War Museum.
in 2002, the Volksbund opened the last of 15 newly created German war cemeteries to the public in Toila.
Special feature
The war cemetery is part of the overall urban complex in Maarjamäe. For this reason, it was not fenced off from the surrounding area, but instead a row of natural stone posts were placed ten meters apart from each other. Trees and areas planted with grass emphasize the scenic character of the cemetery. The site - consisting of the German military cemetery and the Maarjamäe Memorial - is attractive to visitors from different countries due to its historical significance and interesting location. There are currently plans to establish a large, modern memorial on the site in the coming years, which will also incorporate the German war cemetery as a place of learning.
