German Military Cemeteries
One of the things that I found extremely boring during guided tours were the visits to the German Military Cemeteries in West-Flanders. Only four remain today, Vladslo, Langemark, Menen and Hooglede.
At Vladslo the talk is limited to Käthe Kollwitz and her statues and son, at Langemark it is all about the students who died singing in 1914, and at Menen and Hooglede, no guides are seen as they don't know what to talk about.
One of the legends that is still alive about the German cemeteries is that there are no high ranking officers buried on them, no highly decorated soldiers, no really interesting stories to be found.
However, just the opposite is a fact. Vladslo still holds the remains of the former military wood camp that was there with a memorial for the Lehr Infanterie Regiment from 1916, some pill boxes, an earth wall and a house that was constructed by the Germans and used as an entertainment place for both officers and men. What's even more, you will find amongst the burials an admiral, two major-generals, some aces from the air war, tank commanders, men who received the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest award for bravery, and not to forget, 13 women are buried here. Now that we've come to mention this, there are women buried on all the 4 German cemeteries in West-Flanders. The most moving story can be found at Vladslo again, with Helene von Klutzow, a civilian woman, killed near Liège while searching for the body of her dead husband...
Similar stories can be found on all of the other cemeteries as well, from one of the youngest German soldiers killed in the war, an ex-colonial governor, doctors. Or the story why Werner Voss is not buried at all on the Langemark cemetery.
I started studying both the Allied and German cemeteries during the 90's of the previous century and discovered an enormous amount of unknown stories behind the headstones.
To be continued...