Friedhof Xanten

Cemetery description

The Xanten Cemetery is the final resting place for 298 victims of World War II of various nationalities, including 18 foreign forced labourers from Denmark, Poland and the USSR. The war victims’ burial site was arranged and opened in November 1961, and renovated in 2008. .
As of 1957, the burial site containing the last remains of victims of World War II underwent clean-up work and an honorary cemetery was established. The site contained both single and mass graves of victims of air raids - residents of Xanten, German soldiers and forced labourers. Some of the victims were exhumed and the personal data of a number of the deceased were retrieved. .
The central part of this burial site is marked by a sandstone cross with the inscription ‘Ehrenfriedhof’, i.e. the ‘Honorary Cemetery’.The graves have gravestones with the victims’ personal data inscribed upon them. .
The graves of the forced labourers can be found a little farther away, to the left of the cross. The place is marked by a stele with a memorial inscription that reads: ‘Nothing will be forgotten, no one will be forgotten’ and the information stating that male and female forced labourers are buried here.

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