Consenvoye

11,148 dead from the First World War rest on this site in the Département Meuse: 11,085 Germans, one Russian war dead and 62 fallen of the Austro-Hungarian Army. Austro-Hungarian army. The French military authorities had established this German war cemetery in 1920 as a collective cemetery.

German dead who had been provisionally buried between Verdun and Henay to the left and right of the Meuse were reburied here - during the first battles in August 1914, during the war of position and during the battles around Verdun in 1916, in the summer of 1917 and in September/October 1918. Further burials of remains recovered during the reclamation of the battlefields followed. This work continued almost until the beginning of the Second World War.

Today, the cemetery is the resting place of dead whose units were stationed in almost all countries and provinces of the former German Empire. The fallen of the Austro-Hungarian army belonged to four k.u.k. They were sent to the Western Front from the summer of 1918 and fought there until the armistice on November 11, 1918. Several k.u.k. Artillery regiments had already been in action in the west since February 1918.

Of the 11,148 fallen, 8,611 rest in individual and group graves; 78 remain nameless. In the two common graves with 2,537 victims, 1,501 are known by name. For religious reasons, the 23 fallen of the Jewish faith were given a gravestone made of natural stone instead of a cross.

The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission) undertook the initial work of maintaining the cemetery on the basis of an agreement with the French military authorities in 1926. A number of trees were planted as early as the winter of 1927/28 - regardless of the continuing burials. Further expansion of the grounds failed due to a shortage of foreign currency and the start of the war in 1939.

After the French campaign in May/June 1940 and the subsequent German occupation of large parts of the country, the "Amtliche Deutsche Gräberdienst" (Official German Graves Service) moved a further 6,000 German dead to Consenvoye in 1943 - from graves in cemeteries in the Meuse Valley and from almost inaccessible regimental cemeteries in the middle of the Argonne Forest.

At the same time, the Volksbund expanded the site and had an entrance and a retaining wall made of Vosges sandstone built along the entire street front. Monolithic groups of crosses were erected on the rows of graves, while the graves were marked by small oak stakes with copper covers. The project remained unfinished for the time being when the Allied troops landed in Normandy and liberated France from German occupation.

After the conclusion of the Franco-German War Graves Agreement of July 19, 1966, the Volksbund - with financial support from the German government - began the final design of the German military cemeteries in France.

Young people had already begun the preliminary landscaping work on a voluntary basis. Among other things, they filled in excavation pits from 1943/44 and removed wild growth before the cemetery was planted with greenery.

in 1978, the Volksbund marked the graves with metal crosses - with names and dates cast into them - instead of the previous temporary wooden grave crosses. Once again, it was young people who had previously moved the 35-kilo cross foundations, delivered by the German army.

The names and dates of the dead resting in the communal graves were recorded on cast metal plaques. For group graves with several dead in one grave, the names are engraved in stone slabs in front of the crosses.

Extensive planting further enhanced the grounds - especially behind the upper communal grave, which was given a natural stone border. Monolithic groups of crosses, which used to be scattered around the cemetery, now emphasize the image of the communal grave.

in 1984, Consenvoye was the scene of an event of great significance involving Francois Mitterand and Helmut Kohl: "On September 22, 1984, the French President and the German Chancellor met at this military cemetery for the first time in the history of the two nations. They laid wreaths in joint remembrance of the dead of both world wars and declared: "We have reconciled. We have come to an understanding. We have become friends." This is the inscription on a plaque at the upper common grave.

In September 2023, UNESCO declared 139 First World War cemeteries as World Heritage Sites. 23 graves are in the care of the War Graves Commission. Consenvoye is the first to unveil the UNESCO plaque.

As part of "Operation Levi", the Volksbund commemorated Jewish soldiers of the First World War in June 2026: at the graves of Levy and Julius Rosenthal, Alfred Hess and Arthur Schlesinger, it exchanged Christian crosses for steles with the Star of David. He unveiled a joint stele for David Jacobs, Hermann Marx and Karl Schuster. On the plaques of the comrades' graves, rosettes with the Star of David commemorate Josef Leiter, Emil May, Sally Levi, Adolf Mendels and Max Wertheimer.