Varel, Ev.- luth. Friedhof

According to the information available to us, the two war cemeteries at the Varel municipal cemetery
information available to us - a total of 196 dead from both world wars and the
national Socialist tyranny.
In detail:

- The so-called "cemetery of honor" was opened on June 26, 1949 for 122 soldiers and
Members of various Wehrmacht organizations. They died as a result of
By low-flying air raids, occasionally also by bombs - especially in the years
1944 and 1945 - or they succumbed to their war injuries in the military
War injuries in the military hospitals. Some also died during the last fighting in the
around Varel in early May 1945, when Canadian and Polish troops advanced towards Varel
Advanced towards Varel.

- The so-called "Reihengrabanlage" already existed during the Second World War. Apart from
the 8 graves from the 1st World War (3 German soldiers and 5 Russian
Prisoners of war), there are 62 graves of forced laborers and forced
Forced laborers and the children and young people of forced laborers as well as
german nationals (45 Poles, 5 Latvians, 5 Russians, 2 Estonians, Lithuanians and Czechs each
and Czechs, 1 Yugoslav).

In Varel there were 6 - 7 larger camps for around 4000 people, who were
the Reichsbahn, in armaments factories and in agriculture
had to perform forced labor. After the end of the 2nd World War, many forced laborers were
forced laborers could not return to their home countries. They were interned in
the barracks on the Varel barracks site and on the site of the former Friedrichsfeld airfield.
Friedrichsfeld airfield until the beginning of the 1950s as "displaced
Persons" (homeless foreigners) until the early 1950s. Deceased former
Forced laborers and their children from these camps for displaced persons and
Displaced Persons and 19 people from the Hahn special hospital facility - the
"Displaced-Hospital Hahn" - were also buried here until 1950.

Visitors can find the two gravesites 80 m down the left-hand path from the main entrance
Main entrance. The row gravesite is a further 50 m behind the German
Cemetery.

Photos: Volker Fleig 2014