The burial section that is located next to the cemetery chapel holds the graves of 242 foreign citizens (above all those from Poland, the USSR, the Baltic countries, Yugoslavia, Italy and Romania). The site spreads over a large part of the commune cemetery in Bad Rehburg. Among those buried here are women, men and children who died between 1945 and 1949 in the British Montgomery hospital as well as in pulmonary hospital units situated in Bad Rehburg resort.
Most of the deceased were so-called ‘displaced persons’ - former forced labourers, prisoners of concentration camps or prisoners of war who, after the war, stayed in Germany in camps run by the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) and the IRO (International Refugee Organisation), waiting for an opportunity to return to their home countries or to emigrate to the West. However, their health problems, malnutrition and emaciation that resulted from their previous stay in concentration and forced labour camps as well as from constant persecution led to the development of tuberculosis. This, during the early post-war years, was the major cause of death among the displaced persons.
The burial site is marked by 26 stone plaques that are arranged in an irregular pattern and that have the name, the date of death and the country of origin of each of the deceased inscribed upon them. In total, more than 150 Polish men, women and children are buried here. The central part of the site is marked by a rectangular column/stele standing on a triangle plinth. The stele bears an inscription that says: ‘In memory of victims of wars’ (Den Toten der Weltkriege). Additionally, the cemetery is the final resting place for 20 German victims of World War II.
The burial site is very well maintained and the state of the memorials is very good.
