Inaugurated on July 9, 1961, the cemetery is the resting place of 134 German soldiers, six of whom lost their lives in the First World War and 128 in the Second World War.
Cemetery description
The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission) developed the Glencree war cemetery between 1959 and 1961. The site, a former quarry in the Wicklow Mountains, was made available free of charge by the Government of the Republic of Ireland. It also took over the protection of the site. The 134 German war dead buried there were transferred here from more than 100 gravesites in 15 Irish counties. Visitors enter the memorial through a wrought-iron gate from a small parking lot with an explanatory plaque. The path leads to a memorial hall made of natural stone, whose interior walls and ceiling are decorated with mosaics designed by the Munich artist Fritz Berz. On the cemetery's planted burial ground, stone crosses stand in groups of two and granite name stones immortalize the dates of two of the buried. Not all of the war dead buried here are known by name. A natural stone wall borders the front of the site, a steep wall the back. The Celtic high cross erected there is visible from afar. As a symbol of the war cemetery, it is also a landmark that points the way to the Glencree military cemetery. The site was opened to the public on July 6, 1961. It is the only memorial to German war dead in Ireland.
History
The Republic of Ireland gained independence from Great Britain in 1922. Around 170,000 Irishmen fought on the British side in the First World War. Ireland remained neutral in the Second World War. The six First World War dead buried in Glencree died as German prisoners of war in British POW camps. The majority of the 128 soldiers who lost their lives in the Second World War belonged to the Luftwaffe or the Navy. They were pilots and aircrew who crashed over British waters or marines whose ships were sunk. In most cases, the dead were washed up on Irish shores. Among the dead are 46 victims of a shipwreck that occurred in the Atlantic in July 1940. The German submarine "U 47" sank the passenger ship Arandora Star, which was carrying German and Italian civilians interned by Great Britain, among others.
Special feature
A triangular stele on the Glencree war cemetery bears a commemorative inscription by the scientist Stan O'Brien, who supported the German-Irish Society. The text, which is available in German, English and Irish, reads: "My fate was death under Irish skies and a bed in Ireland's good soil. What I dreamed and planned bound me to the Fatherland; but the war sent me to sleep in Glencree. Sorrow was and pain what I lost - and won. When you pass, say a prayer that loss may turn to blessing."
