Grave of Horst Wessel

[SteveFBS]

Does anyone know the real story behind what happened to the Berlin grave of Horst Wessel? At the gravesite now is the broken, upside down stone of his father, Ludwid...I believe he was a pastor. On the back of the headstone someone has carved "Ludwig W" and the year of his death. What I'm wondering is if the grave of Horst was located next to his fathers, or back to back with it. I know this seems a bit trivial, but I find things like this interesting. I know Horst's headstone was removed after the war (and most likely his body), but at one time in the lore of the Third Reich this was the grave of an important martyr to their movement. All period photos of the gravesite I've seen have been rather small and it's hard to determine the positioning of the actual grave of Horst in relation to what's left there today. I'm not even sure if Horst's grave faced the path behind the grave of his father, or if it was faced towards the inner cemetery. Anyone have any information, or interesting photos of the site? Thanks so much!! -Steven S.

[Geoff Walden]

Steven,

I have the same questions ... I know this is where his grave was *supposed* to be, and that does appear to be his father's marker there.

BUT ... I have stood there with copies of several period photos of HW's grave in hand - photos that show other grave monuments in the background - and I could not find a single one of those other markers or statues in that area. I know that cemetery markers change over time (like where Hitler's parent are buried - the markers on either side of that grave), but surely not that much. I also could not, for the life of me, match that area to the "lay of the land" that appears there in the period photos.

Has anyone else been able to match up any of the background monuments that can be seen in the period photos?

Geoff Walden

[ramon]

According to an article written by Tony Le Tissier in issue 75 of After the Battle, Horst Wessel's remains were disinterred in 1955 and cremated. Le Tissier advises the remains of a Pauline Mersching occupies his space.

[Geoff Walden]

According to an article written by Tony Le Tissier in issue 75 of After the Battle, Horst Wessel's remains were disinterred in 1955 and cremated. Le Tissier advises the remains of a Pauline Mersching occupies his space.

And that is the spot (Section 1, Row 11, Grave 2) where the marker for Ludwig Wessel is today. But I was not able to match that site up to the surroundings that show up in the background in the period photos of Horst's grave.

Geoff Walden

[ihoyos]

About the remains of Horst Wessel and Reinhart Heidrich, many doubts remain.
Thre is a version that says only the mausoleums, tombstones, and gravemark were destroyed. ( the bodies still there).
Other version is they were disinterred and cremated.
I think the following. If the authorities dont want any place like neo nazi santuary, must very clear. Why the shadow remain?

[SteveFBS]

A quick update. Sometime on 8-9 November of this year, communists once again desecrated the Berlin grave of Horst Wessel. Curious to see if someone cleans this up. It's amazing to me that certain elements of the left are still damaging the grave of someone who was murdered 81 years ago.

[Mannheim]

I spent hours looking for the grave and couldn't find it even using Geoff's instructions on his site. As it turns out, I think it's pretty close to these tombs/mausoleums. Geoff?
BTW, the cemetery is pretty run down and does get more than a little spooky if you tarry a little too long.

[Reichkameramann]

I spent hours looking for the grave and couldn't find it even using Geoff's instructions on his site. As it turns out, I think it's pretty close to these tombs/mausoleums. Geoff?
BTW, the cemetery is pretty run down and does get more than a little spooky if you tarry a little too long.

Yes, I think you're right, it does seem to me to be the same mauseleum.

[Geoff Walden]

You were almost there, Mannheim! The grave is actually further from that mausoleum than it appears in the period photo (or it seems so to me, anyway, perhaps because of all the vegetation grown up since then). Just beyond that mausoleum (in the direction your modern photo is facing), the main path makes a slight turn to the right, and just there, a secondary path turns off sharply to the right and passes between graves. On this path, just beyond a plot on the right surrounded by an iron fence, is the Wessel grave plot.

Don't feel bad - I spent two fruitless trips (at least an hour each) looking for that grave, before I finally found it on the third trip. I was going by the location given in Tony Le Tissier's book, and the actual grave is nowhere near there (as I read the plot map in the cemetery, anyway).

Geoff

[Geoff Walden]

A quick update. Sometime on 8-9 November of this year, communists once again desecrated the Berlin grave of Horst Wessel. Curious to see if someone cleans this up. It's amazing to me that certain elements of the left are still damaging the grave of someone who was murdered 81 years ago.

Update (from a visit last week) - The Wessel grave marker has been painted black, to cover up the pink paint and graffiti. It would be better to strip all this paint off, as the attachment points for the bronze letters that were on the Nazi-era marker are now very difficult to make out. But at least it's not pink anymore.

[Reichkameramann]

Amazing there is still all this trouble, lo these decades later. Has anyone else noticed that Hess's marker is completely gone, and so is Paula HItler's? In fact she has 2 bodies buried on top of her, so I read!!

Plus, the Fuehrer's parent's marker has been destroyed as well. All 3 of these voted on my city councils????? What are they thinking? Isn't there a law against desecration???

[BillHermann]

There would be fewer problems of desecration if these sites were not magnets for neo nazi rallies and tourism. If the sites were left alone most would not be targets or town councils would not have them removed.

Back 1988 I found near my village on the Rhine a memorial for a German tank crew. Very small and inconspicuous but it has now become a rally point for Neo Nazis. It to now has started to attract desecration by anti Nazi opponents. The memorial was damaged and the site was painted with anti Nazi slogans.

Both parties are desiccating these sights both are to blame. If these sights were not used in this way town councils would not have to vote to remove them.

[LonnieHoadley]

I spent hours looking for the grave and couldn't find it even using Geoff's instructions on his site. As it turns out, I think it's pretty close to these tombs/mausoleums. Geoff?
BTW, the cemetery is pretty run down and does get more than a little spooky if you tarry a little too long.

anyone else been able to match up any of the background monuments that can be seen in the period photos?

[Geoff Walden]

I could not find any of the other actual grave makers that can sometimes be seen in period photos, but as Mannheim pointed out, the mausoleums that can be seen when you look over the grave from the back are still there, and so is the wall with memorials that can be seen behind the grave, when looking from the front. If not for all the intervening trees now, you could take exact comparison shots to these.

[Geoff Walden]

These two photos approximate the views above. In the first photo, you can just see the nearest mausoleum at the upper left, and in the second photo you can see part of that dark brick wall in the background.

(Note - these photos were taken a few years ago, before the marker for Horst's father Ludwig was set upright and turned around.)