Varel, Ev.- luth. Friedhof

According to the information available to us, a total of 196 dead from both world wars and the National Socialist tyranny are buried in the two war cemeteries at the Varel municipal cemetery. In detail: - The so-called "cemetery of honour" was dedicated on 26 June 1949 for 122 soldiers and members of various Wehrmacht organizations. They died as a result of low-flying air raids, in some cases also as a result of bombing - particularly in 1944 and 1945 - or they succumbed to their war injuries in the military hospitals. Some also died during the last fighting in the area around Varel at the beginning of May 1945, when Canadian and Polish troops advanced towards Varel - The so-called "row grave" already existed during the Second World War. In addition to the 8 graves from the First World War (3 German soldiers and 5 Russian prisoners of war), there are 62 graves of forced laborers and forced laborers' children and young people as well as German nationals (45 Poles, 5 Latvians, 5 Russians, 2 Estonians, Lithuanians and Czechs each, 1 Yugoslav). There were 6 - 7 large camps in Varel for around 4000 people who had to perform forced labor in Varel on the Reichsbahn, in armaments factories and in agriculture. After the end of the Second World War, many forced laborers were unable to return to their home countries. They were quartered as "displaced persons" (homeless foreigners) in the barracks on the Varel barracks grounds and on the grounds of the former Friedrichsfeld airfield until the beginning of the 1950s. Deceased former forced labourers and their children from these camps for displaced persons and 19 people from the Hahn special hospital facility - the "Displaced-Hospital Hahn" - were also buried here until 1950. Visitors will find the two graves 80 m along the left-hand path from the main entrance. The row gravesite another 50 m behind the German cemetery. photos: Volker Fleig 2014