Kloster Arnsburg

Cemetery description

In the years 1959-1960, in the yard of the former Arnsburg Cloister, a cemetery that houses the graves of 453 victims of World War II was established. The deceased are German soldiers (13 of whom fell in WWI), SS members, forced labourers and their children, concentration camp prisoners and prisoners of various nationalities. They died either during the war or soon afterwards. The victims’ remains were moved here from burial sites in the Gießen, Alsfeld and Büdingen districts.
A great number of those buried here were prisoners of the AEL Hirzenhain work education camp (76 women and 11 men - the latest data) executed on 26 March 1945 by the SS and the police. Unfortunately, the victims remain anonymous.
The identified graves bear plaques that contain the victims’ personal data; some of them are marked by a basalt cross.
The cemetery is marked by a memorial slab that reads: ‘In memory of the 450 war victims and of National Socialist lawlessness that rest here: 1 Belgian, 210 German soldiers and civilians, 1 Latvian, 1 Luxembourgian, 3 Dutchmen, 49 Poles, 1 Romanian, 49 citizens of the USSR, 1 Czech, 6 Hungarians and 128 unknown.
Among these were 81 women and 6 men* who, on 26 March 1945, were shot dead in the AEL Hirzenhain work education camp by the Gestapo and the SS.’

(*This information is outdated - there were 76 women and 11 men).

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