War Cementery Gemünden

The war cemetery (a forest cemetery) is on the road between Gemünden and Rieneck on the ridge "once" high above the Main Valley.

On the right of the chapel is the stone image of St. Martinus. In the memorial chapel is the figure of St. Sebastian, carved from oak, who waits for his death tied to a marten stake.

To the right of it are name boards made of slate. It also contains the names of the fallen from Gemünden.

Excerpt from the openly laid out memorial book: In the far-sighted forest and mountain cemetery at "once", between Spessart and Rhön, 8 victims of the First and 1190 of the Second World War rest. 1075 of them were soldiers, some of whom had hoped in vain for a cure in hospitals in Lower Franconia, some of whom had died in the disastrous March days of 1945, when remnants of the Wehrmacht offered final resistance in bitter retreats. The bombing of enemy aircraft killed 123 civilians - 48 men, 49 women and 26 children. A Umbettergruppe of the Volksbund salvaged the dead from makeshift facilities and field graves in 242 Bavarian, mainly Franconian communities.
Every dead person, including the unknown, was given an individual grave here. Whether officer, ordinary soldier or civilian, whether German or foreigner - every war victim found the same care. Same fate, same sacrifice, same grave….

The oldest war victim was a 90 year old mother, the youngest a five month old child….
In addition, 11 Belgians, 6 Soviet Russians, 5 French, 4 Hungarians, 3 Yugoslavs, 2 Dutch, 2 Poles, 2 Romanians and 1 Greek found a decent grave in the consecrated earth. 91 dead remained unknown. .... The big dark slates on the side walls preserve not only the names of those who have been prayed here forever, but also the names of the fallen in the city of Gemünden who rest somewhere in strange earth ...

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Source

• Text: Steffen Gerber
• Photos: Steffen Gerber