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German War Cemetery Bad Bodendorf
- Address:
- Ahrtalstraße, Bad Bodendorf
- E-mail:
- info@bruecke-remagen.de
- Website:
- www.bruecke-remagen.de
- WWII Percentage:
- 100%
German cemetery (Kriegsgräberstätte) with 1212 graves. Most of them died in the Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosure "Goldene Meile" at Remagen.
Following the unexpected crossing of the river Rhine by American troops in Remagen on March 7, 1945, and the long prepared Rhine crossing near Wesel on March 23, 1945, the whole Ruhr area was surrounded including more than 300,000 German soldiers. The number of German prisoners of war was increased tremendously by the advance of Allied Troops.
To the west of the Rhine, Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTEs) housing 50,000 each were created near Rheinberg, Remagen and Bad Kreuznach. After a short time, these proved to be too small. More enclosures were created, 17 in all.
Terrible conditions prevailed the camps. Drinking water and food rations were lacking. Only few of the inmates had coats or shelter. It was a damp, cold spring with lots of rain. To protect themselves from the weather, prisoners dug holes in the ground. Lack of hygiene caused the spread of deseases such as dysentery. The 62nd US Field Hospital, 120 German military doctors, and 750 paramedics tried to fight diseases.
The dead were removed daily from the holding cells. On April 28, a field near Bodendorf was turned into a cemetary, which was closed again on July 15, 1945. By then 1,090 dead POWs were buried here.
Source: Friedensmuseum Brücke von Remagen & Marcel Jans
Photographs: Marcel Jans
Source: Friedensmuseum Brücke von Remagen & Marcel Jans
Pictures: Marcel Jans (1,2,3,5) en Fedor de Vries (4)
Visitorsreactions Give your reaction!
- DAVID NEWMAN te MILTON KEYNES, UK 07-12-2005 20:44:17
- My wife and I are "cemetery veterans" in that our driving holidays in Europe often take us, intentionally or otherwise, to areas with an interesting military history. Cemeteries, sadly, are part and parcel of a visit to these sites.
We discovered Bad Bodendorf cemetery by accident as we were returning from a day on the Rhine to our hotel in Adenau. What struck us was how sad it seemed, in a low-key way. German military cemeteries have a completely different atmosphere to Allied sites, being more understated and introspective. Just the colour of the stone used looks more grim on a cloudy day. What was evident was that these people (not distinguished by rank or service) had died in significant numbers in a short space of time. I had learned a little about the poor conditions in the temporary POW enclosures but the absence of any military description of the deceased made me doubt if these were military personnel. A visit to this web site has cleared up my uncertainty - many thanks.
We were both pleased to have visited this cemetery, if only because we felt that we had visited somewhere "special", where we shared time with people who had obviously died together on specific days - but without explanation. It seems ironic to realise that German servicemen could have died after having, sometimes, chosen to have been captured by the Western Allies for the expected better treatment than that "offered" by the Red Army.
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