Friedhof Dormagen-Straberg

Cemetery description

In the old Alter Friedhof Cemetery in Dormagen, there are historical gravestones and war graves of victims of World War I and World War II and of German soldiers. The cemetery has been disused since it was turned into a public park area in 1985. The central part holds a memorial site commemorating the deceased forced labourers and their children. It contains the graves of 48 forced labourers - Russians, Poles, Belgians and Italians - and their children - 31 Polish and 7 - Russian. The central part is marked by a 2,5-metre-high Anröchter dolomite sculpture created in 1987 by a sculptor from Cologne, Hilarius Schwarz. The obelisk is surrounded by small ceramic gravestones displaying the names of the victims, and a larger memorial plaque with the following words: ‘Here lie 7 Russian and 31 Polish children who died during the war between 1941-45.’ The war grave burial site in the municipal Straberg Cemetery in Dormagen is located not far from the entrance from Mühlenbuschweg Street, on the right side. The site is marked by 13 gravestones with the names of the victims inscribed upon them. Almost all of the deceased were Polish citizens deported to the Third Reich during World War II. Among these were Polish children born towards the end of the war or just after it ended. Jakub Heidemaka (another citizen of the Second Republic of Poland) is buried in the burial site for German war victims located closer to the main entrance to the cemetery.

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