The main cemetery in Bochun (Hauptfriedhof) contains the graves of more than 5,000 individuals killed during World War II, 1,800 of whom were foreigners. Bochum, a city located in the Ruhr Area, was a huge coal mining and industrial centre during World War II. 30,000 forced labourers, prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners worked there. They lived and worked in extremely hard conditions so they died as a result of disease, exhaustion and malnutrition. The Ruhr Area, on account of its significant economic role, was a prime target of bombings by the Allied Forces in which foreign labourers, being forbidden to hide in the air-raid shelters, were frequently killed.
The war victims’ graves are located in several places; most Polish citizens are buried in the central part of the cemetery in section No. 34, where men and women forced labourers are mostly buried - 326 from the Soviet Union and 62 from Poland. In the middle part of the section there is a monument bearing an inscription: ‘Remember about the war victims of different nationalities who rest here, and who died in our homeland imprisoned and deported. Overcome your hatred, seek for peace, 1939-1945.’ The burial site is overgrown with grass, and there are no separate graves here. At the entrance there is a monument in the form of a metal book with the names of the victims from different countries inscribed upon it.
Polish citizens are also buried in the mass graves in burial section No. 19a located along the southern border of the cemetery. At the entrance there is a stone memorial plaque that reads: ‘Here lie representatives of foreign countries - victims of a senseless war. They call for peace.’ Here, there is another monument in the form of a metal book with the names of 442 Soviet, 16 Polish, 9 Yugoslav, 10 French, 25 Belgian, and 115 unknown victims.
Several Polish citizens are also buried in the central memorial site - the honorary cemetery where mostly German soldiers and victims of air bombardments are buried. The burial site is located opposite the cemetery hall at the entrance to the cemetery. The deceased are commemorated by means of a tall cross and a mosaic presenting Niobe mourning her dead children.
The state of preservation of the burial site and the memorials is very good (2018).
Cemetery address: Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia
Freigrafendamm
44803 Bochum
GPS: 51.476099,7.249324
Cemetery administration: Städtische Friedhöfe von Bochum / Zentrale Friedhofsverwaltung,
www.bochum.de,
Hans-Böckler-Straße 19, 44787 Bochum,
