Jump to content

Vladslo German war cemetery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vladslo German war cemetery
German War Graves Commission
(Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge)
Crosses at Vladslo
Used for those deceased 1914-1918
Established1956 (Concentration cemetery)
Location51°04′14″N 2°55′46″E / 51.07056°N 2.92944°E / 51.07056; 2.92944
near 
Total burials25,644
Burials by nation
Burials by war
Official nameFunerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front)
TypeCultural
Criteriai, ii, vi
Designated2023 (45th session)
Reference no.1567-FL02

Vladslo German war cemetery is about three kilometres north east of Vladslo, near Diksmuide, Belgium. Established during World War I, the cemetery originally held 3,233 wartime burials.[1] In 1956, burials from many smaller surrounding cemeteries were concentrated in Vladslo, and it now contains the remains of 25,644 soldiers.[1] Each stone bears the name of twenty soldiers, with just their name, rank, and date of death specified.

The cemetery is administered by the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge). They also look after the three other German war cemeteries in Belgium: Langemark, Menen and Hooglede.

The Grieving Parents

[edit]
The Grieving Parents by Käthe Kollwitz

The cemetery also contains a pair of statues – The Grieving Parents[2] – by Käthe Kollwitz, a noted German sculptor.[3] She made the statues in the 1930s as a tribute to her youngest son, Peter, who was killed in October 1914 and is buried in the cemetery. The eyes on the father-figure gaze on the stone directly in front of him, on which Kollwitz's son's name is engraved.

References/notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Web matters". Web matters. 1914-10-23. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
  2. ^ Sometimes called The Mourning Parents
  3. ^ Kreissparkasse Köln. "Kollwitz Museum, Cologne, Germany". Kollwitz.de. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
[edit]