Walking the Ground – Bautzen Cemeteries

Burying the victims of the Battle of Bautzen

In recognition of the fierce fighting which took place in Bautzen numerous memorials were established after the war, commemorating both the Soviet and German victims of the fighting.

Once the guns fell silent, many of the dead were simply buried in mass graves in order to prevent disease from breaking out. It was only in the months after the battle that these mass graves were exhumed, with the dead being reburied in the city’s cemeteries. 

Photos 1-4: The main Soviet war memorial just off the Am Ziegelwall street is the final resting place for the thousands of Soviet soldiers who fell during the fighting in and around Bautzen in 1945. 

Photos 5-11: Whilst in the Michaelisfriedhof the remains of the German POWs killed in the Niederkaina massacre were buried in one mass grave, upon which a simple cross was placed, in the Taucherfriedhof in Bautzen over 1700 graves of people from all nations – soldiers and civilians – can be found.

To hear more about how the fighting impacted both the people of Bautzen, and the city itself, check out the latest episode of the Europe at War Podcast.