The Cheb war cemetery is part of the municipal cemetery complex. German soldiers and civilians who died during or immediately after the Second World War are buried here.
Cemetery description
The town of Cheb (German: Eger) is located on the Czech-German border, about 170 kilometers west of the capital Prague. The war cemetery is located in the municipal cemetery. The city council donated the approximately 1.5 hectare site to the German War Graves Commission in 2008 to create a resting place for German soldiers who died in the Second World War.
The names and dates of life of the dead identified by the War Graves Commission are inscribed on grave crosses. They commemorate four dead on the front and four on the back. The names of the war dead, who had to be buried in communal graves because their remains could not be clearly separated from those of other dead, are documented on pillar stones. A metal memorial book also lists the war dead whose remains could not be recovered. In addition, name books are available in the exhibition room in the cemetery administration, which list the names and dates of life of all German war victims who lost their lives in the Czech Republic or are still considered missing there.
Burial
There are 6,004 German war dead from the Second World War buried at the Cheb war cemetery, which the Volksbund has been able to recover from all over the Czech Republic since 2008. The cemetery also contains the remains of many civilian war dead who lost their lives through flight and expulsion after the end of the war.
History
The first dead were buried on the site of today's war cemetery on November 12, 2008 - even before construction work was completed.
Since the early 1990s, the Volksbund has been able to exhume the remains of German soldiers in many places in former Czechoslovakia. However, as there was no war cemetery available at the time where the dead could be buried in a dignified manner, the remains initially had to be temporarily stored in a depot. Thanks to the support of the mayor at the time, Jan Svoboda, a site was finally made available in Cheb on the grounds of the municipal cemetery, on which the Volksbund was allowed to build today's war cemetery.
The site was opened to the public on September 11, 2010. In May 2011, around 150 more grave crosses were erected with the help of the Hof reservist comradeship.
Please note
The key for the exhibition room is only available during the office hours of the cemetery administration (Monday to Friday 8 am - 3 pm). The room is also accessible from inside the cemetery building during these times (office entrance).
