Oksbøl

The Oksbøl German War Cemetery is located in Jutland on the west coast of Denmark. The village of Oksbøl belongs to the municipality of Varde. A stone wall made of field stones surrounds the memorial site. Natural stone crosses mark the graves. They bear the names and dates of two of the dead on the front and back. The graves are planted with heather. At the end of the main path is a three-meter-high bronze cross. In the building at the edge of the cemetery, an exhibition recalls the situation of the refugees at the time and provides information about the worldwide work of the German War Graves Commission. The book of names is also on display there. A bronze orientation map on a stone table at the entrance provides an overview of the location of the graves.

121 German soldiers and 1,675 refugees who died in the camp are buried at the Oksbøl war cemetery.

Towards the end of the Second World War, a refugee camp was set up on the site in what was then occupied Denmark, housing up to 35,000 German refugees and displaced persons between 1945 and 1949. At the beginning of 1945, thousands of people from the eastern part of the German Reich had fled to the west to escape the Soviet army.

The Oksbøl war cemetery was created by refugees. in 1953, young people who themselves had to spend several years in refugee camps planted heather and donated wooden crosses to mark the graves. Originally, 1,247 dead were buried in the cemetery, including many young children. After the war graves agreement was signed in 1962, the Volksbund added 549 additional beds and the cemetery was enlarged. The redesigned cemetery was inaugurated in 1969.

The new international museum for refugee history in Denmark "FLUGT" is located right next to the war cemetery. This is the first museum in the world to deal with refugee stories from the last hundred years in Denmark, including those of the German refugees of the Second World War. Further information can be found on the museum's website: www.flugtmuseum.dk(Source: Exhibitions - FLUGT).