Russian Cemetery Linsburg

The cemetery is located in the middle of the Grinderwald forest, 3 kilometres southwest of the village of Linsburg. The cemetery contains 47 graves of Soviet Prisoners of War and 1 Polish child.

The cemetery began as a burial ground for POWs who died working in the Grinderwald forest, primarily employed cutting logs and felling trees. Few details were kept, if they were even ever made, regarding the date or the cause of their deaths. The men were detached from Stammlager XB at Sandbostel and Stalag XD at Wietzendorf and were housed in a small prison camp located 2.3 kilometres to the north in Meinkingsburg, in the area of the current restaurant. The camp was notorious for it’s poor conditions and bad food supply.

It seems 5 burials date from this time (Graves 1-5), of which two were unknown individuals. During the war the cemetery was also used for burying United States Army Airforce aircrew from two bombers that crashed in the Grinderwald. These were repatriated to the United States at the end of the war. From 1946 the burial ground served as a concentration cemetery for other Soviet POWs who had died in the villages of Linsburg, Erichshagen, Stöckse and Rehburg. Almost all of these are unknown burials. A Polish boy aged 3 years old seems also to belong to this phase.

A wooden gate leads into the cemetery which is enclosed by a hedge. There is one row of graves on the left (south) side of the path and 3 on the right . 23 headstones mark individual or multiple graves. The different types of tombstones and the irregular placing of the markers reflect the different stages of the cemetery‘s growth. The tombstones also contain few personal details as very little was often known about the deceased when they were interred. A stone stele with a Russian Cross and the inscription 1941-1945 stands at the end of the central path.

The cemetery is maintained by a group of volunteers from Linsburg who clear vegetation and clean the stones annually.

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