Friedhof Wietersheim

Cemetery description

Between May 1945 and February 1949, in the Minden-Lübbeke district, a chain of camps for displaced persons was established. In these, 20,000 freed forced labourers, prisoners of war and prisoners were settled in between ten and twenty villages and towns, out of which the German population had been displaced. The largest group of those staying in the Displaced Persons Assembly Centre (or DPAC for short), from the so-called ‘Lahde Group’, were Poles. Therefore, these camps are frequently referred to as ‘Polish camps’.
One of the towns inhabited mostly by Poles was Wietersheim. Between the end of the war and late 1949, 46 persons died here, and they were buried in a separate part of the parish cemetery. Among these 46 deceased were 26 Polish children below 3 years of age. Until today, two persons have remained anonymous.
In the years 2010 and 2011, the burial site for Polish citizens was rebuilt into the shape the site remains today. In place of the post-war gravestones, stone slabs with the names of the deceased can be found. The central part is marked by a sandstone memorial plaque with an inscription in Polish that reads: ‘A Little Cemetery of the Centre of the Polish Assembly Point Wietersheim. The years 1945-46. In memory of the Poles who died abroad - Fellow Countrymen.’
The state of the memorial is very good; however, several grave plaques are overgrown by moss and therefore hardly legible.

Address details