On 1 October 1966, the time had finally come: after five years of reinterment and construction work, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V.) inaugurated the war cemetery at Niederbronn-les-Bains.

More than 15,000 German war dead of the Second World War, who had been buried in Alsace, the Moselle département, and several neighbouring regions of Germany close to the border, were reinterred here, and their relatives attended the inauguration ceremony.

The cemetery's establishment had been preceded by a lengthy process, ranging from the Franco-German War Graves Agreement of 1954, through the first contacts between the German War Graves Commission and the municipal authorities of Niederbronn-les-Bains, to the first youth camps, which made a significant contribution to the creation of the cemetery and fostered links with the local community.

Sixty years have now passed since the cemetery at Niederbronn-les-Bains was consecrated. To present and better understand this development in detail, the team at International Youth and Educational Meeting Centre Albert Schweitzer is preparing an exhibition as well as a new educational module: a simulation game in which participants recreate, in an interactive way, the processes that led to the opening of the cemetery, from the national and municipal levels through to the personal experiences involved.

The opening of the exhibition, which also highlights the cemetery's importance as a place of remembrance and learning, will take place on Sunday, 15 November at 2.00 p.m. during the German commemorative ceremony held at the cemetery.

Highlights       Offers