German War Graves Commission


The German War Graves Commission is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of German war graves in Europe and North Africa. Its objectives are acquisition, maintenance and care of German war graves; tending to next of kin; youth and educational work; and preservation of the memory to the sacrifices of war and despotism. Former head of the Bundeswehr Wolfgang Schneiderhan was elected President of the organisation in 2016, succeeding SPD politician Markus Meckel. The President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is the organisation's patron.

Taking care for cemeteries of persons killed by war

The German War Graves Commission cares for the graves, at 832 cemeteries in 46 countries, of more than 2.7 million persons killed during World War I and World War II. The German war graves are intended to remember all groups of war dead: military personnel, those dead by aerial warfare, murdered in the Holocaust, and all other persons persecuted to death. In addition, the Volksbund maintains cemeteries and memorials of the Franco-Prussian War, First Schleswig War, Second Schleswig War, and the German colonial era.

Foundation in 1919

The commission was founded as a private charity on 16 December 1919, as the recognised Commission under the war graves provisions of Article 225 of the Treaty of Versailles.

Members and offices

By the 1930s, the commission had established numerous cemeteries for German World War I dead. During World War II, the Volksbund's work was mostly carried out by the Wehrmacht's own graves service.
After World War II, the Volksbund resumed its work in 1946 and soon established more than 400 war cemeteries in Germany. In 1954, the German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, tasked the Volksbund with the establishment, care and upkeep of German war cemeteries abroad.

Philosophy

To guard the memory of the victims of war and violence, to work for peace among all nations and to guarantee dignity of men, are the main goals in the statutes of the German War Graves Commission. All activities of German War Graves Commission must harmonize with these general principles.

Revenues and spending

The Commission spent about 52 million Euro. Half of it was used for maintenance of the cemeteries, more than a third to remind what happened and to learn from it, the rest was used to keep the association running. Two-thirds of this sum was financed by members and private donations. One-third was paid by government and states.

Activities

Casualties, war graves, prisoner of war graves

The commission looks after "832 military cemeteries in 46 countries with about 2.75 million dead" and its work is carried out today by 8,000 honorary and 556 full-time employees. Since the end of the Cold War, the Volksbund has access to Eastern Europe, where most World War II German casualties occurred. Since 1991, 188 World War I cemeteries and 330 World War II cemeteries in eastern, central and south-eastern Europe have been reconstructed or rebuilt and about 764,524 bodies have been buried in new graves. Maintenance of German war cemeteries in France is looked after by the Service d'entretien des sépultures militaires allemandes known as S.E.S.M.A..
The German War Graves Commission offers an accessible online database of 4.8 million individual names for World Wars I and II.
War cemeteries and war dead of World War I and II inside of Germany are also documented in these files. Among these are war dead transferred to Germany or persons who died within Germany. But only those are registered whose remains were transferred to war cemetery areas within civil cemeteries but not to individual family graves.
Further in this database persons can be found who died by aerial bombing of cities, as prisoner of war or in imprisonment, partly foreign members of German auxiliary troops who died in World War II or even some members of Wehrmacht who died before World War II began.
A grave research request can be sent online or as hardcopy to Volksbund to clarify the unknown fate of a German soldier. As some family names are very common it is important to mention all given names and the date of birth of the missing soldier. As additional data should be given if available: date of death, last unit and last letters. Often withdrawing troops could not bury their casualties. Detailed data on the war dead of World War I were reconstructed by volunteers in digital format.

List of German cemeteries by country/conflict

War cemetery database online

German War Graves Commission has an online inventory of its cemeteries. Data collected for each cemetery are location, how to reach, number of dead, course of military events in the region and architecture of the cemetery.

Some cemeteries by country

;Australia – World War I & II
;Austria – World War I & II
;Belgium – World War I
;Belgium – World War I & II
;Belgium – World War II
;Canada – World War I & II
;Croatia – World War II
;Egypt – World War II
;Finland – World War I & II
;Finland – World War II
;France – World War I
;France – World War II
;Southern France – World War II
;Greece
;Ireland – World War I & World War II
;Israel – World War I
;Italy – World War II
;Luxembourg – World War II
;Netherlands – World War I & World War II
;Russia – World War II
;Spain – World War I & World War II
;Tunisia – World War II
;United Kingdom – World War I & II