Xanten-Gemeindefriedhof

Xanten war cemetery 298 dead from the Second World War rest here, including 18 foreign workers (1 Dane, Russians and Poles): Soldiers and civilian citizens; men, women and children who were victims of war or tyranny. A first burial ground was created during the war directly next to the mortuary in the municipal cemetery. Members of the Wehrmacht as well as citizens of the town buried their dead there. On November 20, 1942, 43 people, including two women, lost their lives in an accident in workhouse 4 of the Luftwaffe ammunition facility 2/ VI in Xanten. A memorial service for these victims was held on November 25, 1942. 23 of them, including one of the women, were buried at the war cemetery in Xanten, while the others were transferred to their home towns. A memorial stone for these dead is located in Hees on the former site of the ammunition plant. 35 soldiers lost their lives in another explosion at the Hees air force ammunition depot on October 6, 1944. The dead were buried in three collective graves. Many of the soldiers, civilians and foreign citizens buried in the cemetery are victims of the heavy bombing raids on February 10 and 13, 1945. Johann Schüller, the master builder of Xanten Cathedral, was also killed in the bombing raid on February 10 (grave no. 138). Entire families were wiped out in the bombing raids. For example, 10 members of the Merissen family alone died in the attack on February 13 (grave no. 99 - 104), including 3-year-old Karl Josef. On February 21, a bright spring day, Xanten Cathedral sank into ruins. "The roof was swept away, the vaults collapsed, the north tower was a stump, the walls crumbled, the cloister crumbled: a sight of horror", we read in a chronicle. In March 1945, Xanten lay in ruins. A bombing raid on February 25 caused further casualties and destruction. For the population returning home from the evacuation in April, the first task was to ensure their daily survival. The commitment of Walter Bader, the later state curator, who was able to inspire many men and women from Xanten to help rebuild the cathedral, remains unforgotten. Their energy and many donations as well as financial support from the federal and state governments made it possible to rebuild Xanten Cathedral, which is steeped in history. the redesign of the war cemetery in Xanten began in 1957. The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) assisted the town and entrusted garden architect Willi Tapp, Düsseldorf, with this task. The mortuary next to the war cemetery was demolished and a new one erected elsewhere. From the end of January to mid-March 1960, 129 graves were opened for the purpose of identifying and reburying the dead within the grounds. The work was difficult because the dead could often only be buried in a hurry, especially in the final days of the war. If a subsequent identification was possible, the deceased was given an individual grave; unidentified bodies remained in collective graves. The individual graves were given grave crosses made of Ruhr sandstone. Some of the crosses do not bear the dates of the deceased, as there is not enough space. This is why we find stone slabs with the names of the buried between these crosses. However, the exact location of the dead cannot be given in all cases. Today, the central point of the war cemetery is the high cross with a small memorial square. To the left of the cross, the names of the fallen of the town of Xanten from both world wars can be read on horizontal metal plates. Further to the left of the high cross, somewhat set back along a path, is the site with the graves of the foreign workers, some of whom were arbitrarily killed. The inscription on the memorial stone, which was erected by the town in 1996, commemorates their fate. The war cemetery was dedicated on 19 November 1961 (National Day of Mourning) by District President Kurt Baurichter, Düsseldorf, and placed in the care of the town of Xanten. Another war cemetery is located in the cemetery of the Franciscan monastery in Xanten-Mörmter. The war dead buried at the Gamerschlagshof military base were transferred to the war cemetery in Kamp-Lintfort in the 1950s.