The city of Kaunas is located in the southern part of the Baltic Republic of Lithuania.
The Kaunas collective cemetery is the central war cemetery for all German soldiers
german soldiers who died in the central parts of Lithuania.
The cemetery is located in the Aukštieji Šanèiai (Upper Hill) district,
southeast of the city center, on Aðmenos gatvë. From Vilnius (Wilna) you can
vilnius (Wilna), take the highway to the Kaunas-Zentrum exit. On September 9th
2000 the cemetery was opened to the public.
Description of the cemetery
The Wehrmacht had the German military cemetery in Kaunas established in 1942 and
further expanded during the Second World War. The collective cemetery
area of two hectares and was occupied by around 1,500 dead. In
the post-war period, the site was left untended and soon lost its visible
visible features above ground. In 1995 and 1996, the
Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission) explored the area and determined the
Size of the cemetery and the location of the grave blocks. The completion of the
Of the project in 1998 was followed by the restoration of the original cemetery
Cemetery and the creation of new burial areas. After two years
Years, in August 2000, the work was completed. Until 2009
the Volksbund's reburial service had buried more than 5,000 war dead in the
the extension areas. Further reburials followed. A memorial square with a
Stone high cross forms the central point of the cemetery. The names
and dates of the soldiers buried in Kaunas during the war are inscribed on
on inscription steles. Blocks 4 to 8 - behind the memorial square
- and blocks 2 and 3 - to the right and left of the square - are marked with the war
War Dead buried by the War Graves Commission. The same applies to the
Blocks 9 and 10 located in the entrance area of the cemetery
as well as inscribed plaques immortalize the names of the buried dead. In front of
block 8 are twelve pillar stones bearing the names of the soldiers who died in Kaunas
soldiers who died in captivity in Kaunas. The name book of the cemetery
can be viewed in the cemetery administration building on weekdays from 9.00 to
16.00 am. A book for entries by visitors is also available there
is also available there.
History
Lithuania only became a sovereign state after the end of the First World War.
The so-called Hitler-Stalin Pact concluded in 1939 incorporated Lithuania into the
soviet sphere of interest. As a result, in 1940, the country effectively became
Part of the Soviet Union. in 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union,
the German "Wehrmacht" occupied Lithuania. Soviet troops recaptured the
Country in the summer of 1944. Lithuania became a Soviet republic. The initial
resistance of armed partisan groups against Soviet rule soon collapsed
Rule soon collapsed. In Kaunas, thousands of people fell victim to the
Atrocities committed by the National Socialists.
Special feature
For the construction of the German military cemetery in Kaunas, the "Wehrmacht"
in 1942, the "Wehrmacht" selected an area near a Lithuanian war cemetery with
The dead from the battles of 1918/19. In the years following the end of the
The end of the Second World War, a memorial complex was built next to the
Memorial complex for the Soviet war dead from the fighting around Kaunas.
