History

Camp Cemeteries

The prisoners of the concentration and penal camps as well as the prisoners of war who died in the Emsland camps were usually buried in camp cemeteries set up for this purpose. If the prisoners died at forced labour subcamps, such as in the Sauerland, northern France or Norway, the burials took place there. In some cases, family members organized the burial of the dead in their home towns after having taken over the transport at great financial cost.

The Soviet prisoners who died in the POW camps were only rarely given individual graves. Due to a lack of documentation, it can be assumed that the Wehrmacht buried between 14,250 and 24,000 Soviet prisoners of war in mass graves.

Nine burial sites exist today in the district of Emsland and the county of Bentheim, some of which have a chequered history.