There are four cemeteries on Șoseaua Olteniței Street in the Romanian capital Bucharest. One of them is the "Pro Patria" military cemetery. If you would like to visit it, you should first check with the German War Graves Commission in Niestetal whether it is open (inquiries to info@volksbund.de).
Occupancy
The cemetery was established in 1917/1918. More than 3,900 German war dead from 1917 rest there in several grave blocks and two small crypts. Members of other nations who fought alongside the Germans are buried in some plots. During the Second World War, 1,616 German soldiers were buried in individual and two communal graves.
History
German losses in the Second World War are estimated at 38,000 war dead, and the War Graves Commission has over 35,000 casualty reports. The dead rest in almost 800 places.
On June 25, 1996, Romania and Germany signed a war graves agreement, which came into force on December 10, 1997. However, negotiations between the War Graves Commission and Romanian government authorities and several municipal administrations made various construction projects possible as early as 1984.
After long and difficult talks with the Romanian Foreign Ministry and the city of Bucharest, the Volksbund was allowed to repair the "Pro Patria" cemetery in 1985 and 1986, which had become increasingly dilapidated after 1945. In the end, all that remained were the grave markers from the First World War, some of which had fallen over. Provisional wooden crosses had already been replaced by stone crosses.
The Volksbund renovated the old memorial stones, erected new grave crosses and inscribed names and dates on small metal plaques.
The stone memorial at the end of the main path with the five-language inscription "Fatherland honor your heroes" has been preserved.
in 2008, the Volksbund created additional graves in open areas so that the remains of German soldiers who had been buried in Bucharest and the surrounding area during the Second World War could be reburied here.
Special feature
The plans for the construction of the cemetery were drawn up by nursery owner and garden architect Rudolf Lange from Swinemünde. He was assigned to General von Mackensen's high command during the First World War. Army Group Mackensen of the Central Powers existed from 1915 to 1918 and was deployed under German command in varying compositions on various fronts in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe - including in Romania.
