The cemetery, established in 1959–60, is the final resting place of 453 people. Most of them lost their lives during or shortly after World War II: Soviet prisoners of war, Gestapo and concentration camp inmates, soldiers of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS, forced laborers, displaced persons, and German civilians, as well as seven children of female forced laborers. Thirteen people who died in World War I are also buried here.
The remains were reinterred in the ruins of Arnsburg Abbey by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission). Previously, they had been buried in cemeteries throughout the region, mostly in the places where they died. The Federal Republic of Germany guarantees war dead the right to eternal rest and the maintenance of their graves using public funds. Soon after 1945, however, it seemed that this was no longer assured for many of the scattered war graves. Consequently, collective cemeteries such as the one at Arnsburg Abbey were established. The municipalities in whose territory the burial sites are located are responsible for their upkeep.
Created as sites of mourning and remembrance, these collective cemeteries are also places where stark contrasts remain palpable. Although all those buried there lost their lives in wars, many were also victims of Nazi rule. Where SS men lie buried alongside concentration camp prisoners, the saying that “in death, all people are equal” loses its reconciliatory power.
Among the dead at Arnsburg Abbey are 87 men and women who were shot by an SS commando near Hirzenhain in the Vogelsberg region (graves 291–339, 347–384). With the exception of Emilie Schmitz from Luxembourg (Grave 320), no names can be assigned to them anymore. This is why, after their reburial, they were laid to rest as “unknown war dead.” Their graves no longer indicated that they were victims of a Nazi crime. The historical burial map on a wooden plaque in the passageway to the war cemetery still documents this situation today.
In the 1980s, the treatment of the dead at Hirzenhain came under increasing criticism. Their true fate had been suppressed. After years of public protests, the Volksbund came to realize that the misleading grave markers had to be replaced. Since 1996, Arnsburg Abbey has also commemorated who the “unknown war dead” actually were: prisoners of the Nazi regime, murdered on March 26, 1945, four days before U.S. troops reached Hirzenhain. Also since 1996, two information panels at the edge of the cemetery have been dedicated to the memory of those who died in Hirzenhain. They recount the history of the crime and document a list of prisoners, through which at least the names of some of the victims have been preserved.
War Cemeteries Today
As more time passes since the world wars and the Nazi regime, the need to explain war cemeteries such as the one at Arnsburg Abbey grows. Future generations must be taught why these sites were established and which of the dead are buried there. War cemeteries can serve as sites for historical and political education if they are developed for that purpose.
The Hessian regional association of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) fulfills this task by researching the history of selected war cemeteries in Hesse since 1999 and making the findings publicly available. The Arnsburg Abbey War Cemetery was the focus of the research project in 2017 and 2018. Since 2019, the findings have been publicly displayed on an information panel in the passageway leading to the war cemetery. A detailed documentation of the findings can be found on the website of the Volksbund in Hesse.
