War Graves

The churchyard of the Protestant village church in Neuenhagen at Carl-Schmäcke Strasse harbors the graves of 51 people who died here at the end of World War II in April/May of 1945. The dead were buried anonymously in the church graveyard, their names mostly recorded on lists. For decades, only a simple wooden cross marked the existence of the burial plot. German law prescribes that war graves be maintained as places of quiet contemplation dedicated to undisturbed remembrance of the victims of war and violence. So in 2014, the municipality undertook a re-design of the war graves plot. Below an inscription that reads “the dead admonish us,” three stone panels list the names of those buried here – insofar as they are known. These victims of war were both civilians and members of the military, and most of them were from Neuenhagen. Thus the names of the civilians, with their dates of birth and death, are listed below an olive branch, while the fallen soldiers – although they remain largely nameless – are marked with an iron cross.

Address: Carl-Schmäcke-Straße , 15366 Neuenhagen bei Berlin

Translated by Rebecca M. Stuart