Wolgograd

This vast and haunting place is more than just a graveyard, it is a burial site with three different parts. All three lie on one side of the road to Volgograd (Stalingrad), on the other lies the massive Military Memorial Cemetery of Russia; their closeness a brutal reminder of the futility of these deaths, Russian and German alike.

More than 100 Granite cubes are bearing the names of 100 000 soldiers missing in action They died here, somewhere, about an hour’s drive away from Volgograd, the former Stalingrad. Nobody knows where. This is a graveyard without bodies. Names without bones.

Some 50.000 dead soldiers were buried here, only half of them were known by name, those names known are engraved in the stone wall circling that mass grave. The other half are bones without names.

On the right of the entrance is the old Wehrmachtsfriedhof where around 600 Germans were buried while the war was still raging. These were the first to be interred here. The rest of the graves came much later. The official opening was in 1999.

Three villages once stood here in the plains of Stalingrad. Now there is nothing, just grass, wind, and the graves of thousands of men who died on this land, died for their land, never to return home.

sorces & further reading:

Rossoschka – Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsräberfürsorge

Mamayev Kurgan – Volgograd’s gigantic memorial to the Russian heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad.

It is everything it could be, just bigger: heroic, massive, and somehow very Russian, Mamayev Kurgan is the largest free-standing non-religious statue of the world and it is just overwhelming.

Huge flights of stairs (200 steps to remember the 200 days of the Battle of Stalingrad) lead through various levels of remembrance, WWII sound recordings accompany visitors on their way towards the statue of Mamayev Kurgan, that towers 52 meters tall over Volgograd like Cristo Redentor over Rio de Janeiro.

Behind the enormous concrete work lies the graveyard, marshals and snipers are buried here.

Here in Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, a ferocious and deadly World War II battle between Russian and German Forces raged for 200 days, killing 2 Million people. 2 Million people. 2 000 000 people.

Some are remembered on stones, some along the walls of the hall where the eternal flame is guarded by young Russian soldiers.

So many lives ended on this very hill, so much blood, pain and despair.

A gigantic graveyard to the horror of Stalingrad.

But what always will be part of my memory of this sun-infused summer’s day wandering through the memorials to the horror of Stalingrad is the friendliness of the Russian people towards us, the Germans. They welcomed us with warm smiles and open hearts. 77 years after the Battle of Stalingrad. And they went out of their way to make us feel welcome, helping hands, not ones with swords.

This is probably an even bigger symbol than Mamayev Kurgan.