Rees-Bienen-Kriegsgräberstätte

Bienen cemetery of honor 90 dead of the Second World War rest here, including 14 unknown persons. They are soldiers, men of the Volkssturm and the Reich Labor Service (RAD), who fell between March 24 and 26, 1945 in Bienen, Vrasselt, Praest or Grietherbusch in the battle for the Rees bridgehead. The non-commissioned officer Theodor Giesen, who was born in Bienen and fell in Vienna in 1942, was repatriated and now also rests in the cemetery of honor. The self-sacrificing commitment of teacher Prömel, who took care of the recovery, registration and burial of the dead, remains unforgotten. He saw to the creation of a cemetery of honor, which was lovingly tended by the girls of the village for a long time. The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) took over the expansion and design of the cemetery in 1947. The task was assigned to garden architect Fabritzius from Essen. A wayside shrine entitled "Devotion" by the artist G. Müller- Blankenstein from Hagen has been the central memorial since 1953. A memorial from the First World War, which was destroyed in the war, has not been renewed. in 1960, the original wooden crosses were replaced by weatherproof stone crosses. Among the dead in Bienen were two Italians who were buried by the Italian burial service in 1960 - in the course of opening a grave among the unknown fallen - and transferred to their homeland. Two unknown Dutch war dead, who had previously been buried in the municipal cemetery, were buried in these two empty graves. The Bienen cemetery of honor was inaugurated on November 16, 1955. Chief District Director Dr. Freiherr von Bönninghausen handed the site over to the care of the municipality of Bienen. The blessings were performed by Pastor Dammer from Bienen and Pastor Fuchs from Rees. Today, the cemetery is maintained by the town of Rees.