Up to 70,000 bodies can be laid to rest at the Duchovshchina collective cemetery. The facility was opened in 2013.
Cemetery description
The Dukhovshchina collective cemetery is the last large German war cemetery to be established in Russia by the Volksbund on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Dukhovshchina cemetery is located near the small town of the same name, around 60 kilometers north-east of the oblast capital Smolensk. The five-hectare site is enclosed and landscaped. It offers space for up to 70,000 German war dead. The end point of the main axis is the round memorial square, in the middle of which is a high cross. The names of the dead are inscribed on granite steles. Groups of symbolic crosses are scattered around the cemetery.
Burial
58,603 World War II dead from the Smolensk, Bryansk and Kaluga regions are buried at the Duchovshchina war cemetery. The dead are mainly members of the Wehrmacht who fell between 1941 and 1943 or died in military hospitals. The site will also be used for further burials in the future.
History
Duchowschtschina was occupied by the Wehrmacht on July 15, 1941 and recaptured by Soviet troops on September 19, 1943. The town was destroyed during the fighting. In 2010, the Volksbund began building the cemetery. In the same year, the first 7,000 war dead were laid to rest. In the summer of 2013, the Volksbund inscribed the first natural stone steles with the approximately 16,300 names of the war dead identified to date. The war cemetery was opened to the public on August 3, 2013 during a commemorative event.
Special feature
There is also a Russian war cemetery in Duchovshchina.
