I am brand new to this site and I hope my question does not offend anyone since it is not my intention. I found this website attempting to solve this question, and hope someone here has the answer. My question is this. I see that the Germans (like all Nations that honor their war dead) took great care in Russia to honor their dead who fell in Russia. They were buried in single graves when possible, and all graves were marked with respect. I read that when German forces were retreating from Russia they removed all signs as to the locations where their soldiers were buried. Signs were removed, and grave markers were removed when feasible, and crosses and other decorations were removed also. Finally to my question, after the War what did the Russians do to these grave sites? All of the pictures I have seen from Russia do not show the locations of buried German or other Axis soldiers. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
In germany the "Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge" the german War Graves Commission, an NGO, is in charge of the military war graves! German War Graves Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Deutsch-Sowjetischer Krieg Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. | Arbeit für den Frieden They have started work in Russia only after the end of the cold war, today there are 300 KrIegsgräberstätten on the territory of the former USSR. Generally speaking the germans have very good informations about the war graves installed by the Wehrmacht during the war. Then there were many bodies discovered after the war that were buried by the Soviet army or by russian civilians, most of those graves are not registered, the soldiers buried in these graves are listed as MIA. Currently the Volksbund is relocating tens of thousands of graves into big military cemetaries every year, to facilitate the future care for the graves! The remains of the dead POWs are also relocated into the big military cemetaries
Thank you Skylinedrive for the attached information. It was always my belief that the Russians disinterred the Axis dead in their countries and disposed of the remains via cremation and or mass graves. It is great to know that was not done and that these graves are being cared for. Thank you for the time spent responding to my question.
Hello, Deerbandit)). I thought it is very interesting question for me. On the one hand, I saw these German military cemeteries at the war-photo and document films. During the war there was a lot of it. On the other hand, now, for my life I have traveled almost the whole of Russia, but have never seen these cemeteries. I gathered some information about it. It is not enough, because I’m not at home now. And there is a terrible slow Internet connection. The official information. 2.2 million Wehrmacht soldiers, who were killed in battle, were buried in the former USSR. 1.4 million of them - were buried in Russia. More than 3 million Wehrmacht soldiers were captured or missing. 1.8 million of them - returned home after the captivity. The remaining 1.2 million people are either buried in the cemeteries of war, or do not know - where they are buried. That is, in the former Soviet Union are the remains of at least 3.4 million Wehrmacht. As for the people, who were dead in captivity. Thanks to the German People's Union, since 1992 it has been restored 125 cemeteries of prisoners of war. But there are not always personifications. Rather, it is common graves or memorials. In addition, 21 cemeteries were built for reburial at a new location or restored at the old location. 8 of them are located in the Kaliningrad region (former territory of East Prussia). In general, the German People's Union is committed to rebury at least a third of those killed in battle. During the period from 1992 to 2010 they were exhumed and reburied only 275,000 dead. The unofficial information. I have read many articles on the Internet and the discussions that occur in connection with the work of the German Union in Russia. This is not the central press. These discussions are taking place in those cities where the German Union is trying to work on the reburial. There's a lot of controversy and debate, but they all flare up only at the local level. The government stands aloof from these debates. And I ought to say that the German Union has serious problems in their work. I have combined these problems into three broad groups. I will list them in ascending order. 1. Public resistance. The main argument: "If we recreate the cemetery to all who tried to take over our country, then these cemeteries will be very much." My comment: Throughout its history, Russia has increased his empire at war with neighboring countries. But it has repeatedly been attacked many times too. Only Moscow engaged in foreign armies three times in its history. Another argument of opponents: "Why should we have a German cemetery, if we still have not buried the Russian soldiers." And it's true. To the shame of Russia, our government has very little support for finding and maintaining war graves of Red Army. 2. There is a big problem in Russia as a corruption. In the end, only regional officials determine the location for reburial and give permission for its production. Knowing the Russian reality, I am sure that the German union is not always possible to "negotiate (have a deal)." 3. To the honor for the German Union, they begin to agreement with the officials only after obtaining permission from the local council of war veterans. And this is the biggest problem. I can only speculate about the reasons, but the fact is: as a rule, it is very difficult to convince the veterans to give consent. The Germans arrive discreetly: conducting interviews, driven by wanting to Germany, that would show how they care for the graves of Russian soldiers, publicly apologize, etc. However, until the soviets of veterans of the war still exists, get their permission to the German cemetery will be very difficult. All this give no good result. I've seen many ads on the Internet this kind: "I know the burial place of the German soldiers. Where can I go?" or " In my garden plot so far, I find the bones and tokens of German soldiers. Where can I send? " However, such requests often go unanswered. As I understand, the German government banned takes the particular needs and work in Russia only through the German Union Perhaps this is correct, because I found a few links where you can buy or sell these German jettons. That is dishonest people trying to do in this dishonest business. However, there are other people. For example, there is the most famous German cemetery in Russia. It is located in the Leningrad region. And a Russian Orthodox priest takes care of this place. Ðемецкое воинÑкое кладбище (Сологубовка) — Ð’Ð¸ÐºÐ¸Ð¿ÐµÐ´Ð¸Ñ P.S. In Germany were buried approximately 760,000 Red Army soldiers. This is 3.3 thousand burial sites. All the cemeteries are maintained at the expense of the German Government. By many views, these cemeteries are in perfect order.
Iru thank you vey much for this honest and objective analysis. It honors the Russian people to care for the fallen even if the Germans were their worse enemies. I have a Vodka on your post.
Thank you, Skipper! The main thing to remember that Vodka is sometimes useful, but in small quantities. And if it a lot - so it often hurts (Russian know about it, but always forget). A little more information about the fate of the German cemetery (which was with them during the war and immediately after the war). Some historians refer to the fact that after the war (or during the war) was an order from Stalin to destroy all of these cemeteries. I checked all the statutes of the State Committee of Defense of 1941-1945 years (they are now declassified and published) and did not found such document. Most likely, if the Germans were unable to remove the markings of the cemetery, it was removed by the soldiers of the Red Army or local people. I've seen documentary footage in the film "Apocalypse - World War II" where a Russian solder crashed crosses on German graves during the offensive of winter 1941, near from Moscow. Obviously, at that time they was much anger and there was no respect for enemy graves.
The same happened elsewhere. I remember there was a commemorative stele made fora Luftwaffe airman in January 1944 near my home, but it was removed in August and the body moved to an official war cemetery.
Slightly of the topic, but still related... The Finnish war and civilian cemetaries in the territory, which was occupied by SU, have been destroyed. Some of the gravestones have been re-used as stepping stones for the houses or smashed for road building material. Roads or buildings have been built over some of the cemetaries or they have been used as fields or camping sites. Lately some of the cemetaries restored by the Finns have been vandalized.
