grave search Gardelegen

[nickdracu]

Dear forum members,

For over a year now I'm searching a grave from someone who died on a dead march from Kz Dora to Bergen - belsen.
His son who is now 86 years old had asked me to try to find his father's grave.
The only camp that his son knew( were his father have bin) was Groß - Rosen. But after research it seems the last camp he entered was Mittelbau - dora.

Now, I asked the museum of Dora if they had some more information for me. But the only thing that they could give me was, that he was send on a dead march to Bergen-Belsen. I then researched this march and found that his father had died between Letzlingen & Gardelegen.
I contacted both city's several times, but no one will say what happened to the people who died on the dead march en between these city's. I also asked several times if these people could be buried at the memorial in Gardelegen. And if there is a list of numbers that lay in Gardelegen or at the other burial site's. But every time i ask this questions all contact breaks.

So i would like to asked your help, could someone help me to find this man?
We both would really appreciated it.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

[history1]

I guess he was a victim of the Gardelegen massacre. All have been burried near the barn.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardelegen_%28war_crime%29
http://www.gardelegen.info/uk/geschicht ... taette.htm

Regards

[nickdracu]

Thanks, but not exactly.
We know that he died on the 11th of april 1945 in the woods between Letzlingen en Gardelegen.
By two facts : 1 verbal and one testimony on paper.
Because the massacre took place on the 13th of April we know he never reach Gardelegen.
The people at Dora have told me that the people who died in the barn lay at the memorial.
But not the people who died on the road. To my regrets they don't want to say what happened to those people.

[history1]

"Sigh" I´m not very familiar with the situation there. Who are the people who told you this, survivors or Germans? How likely it is that the had a good overview of the actions then? Just questions, not doubting that your source isn´t reliable.
Just as example: Not very far from where I live a death march has been forced, heading along the Danube to the west. Though corpses where laying on the country road every few kilometers ( road lenght was ~15km) all has been collected and burried in the next bigger provincial town.
IMHO, the same is also possible in your case. Also I can imagine that he can been burried at the memorial, it doesn´t make much difference placing another corpse into a grave when there are a lot of them. That was common custom at the time.

But keep in mind that I don´t have any proof for your case.

[nickdracu]

Hmm true,

The person who told the son about what happened to his father was someone of Belgium. Who was also a prisoner of Dora.
From the Belgian authority's I got his statement given to the police about where he last seen his father. In this document he stated that they knew each other since the camp of Bleckhammer.
He also stated that the lose each other on the 10 of April 1945 when he escaped the march.
With this information i contacted the city of Letzlingen who on there term put me trough with someone who researched this march. This person lives in Letzlingen.

He told me that the group passed Letzlingen. He also said that his father wasn't buried in Letzlingen but probably in Gardelegen. the reason why he thinks this i because there should be or was an monument somewhere in Gardelegen where the prison number of his father was engraved on.
I say "was " becaus he told me there was an new monument raised after the fall of the iron curtain and he doesn't know if this number still stand on this new monument.

were this monument is I still didn't found. or it would be the monument at the memorial.

[apmvdhorst]

hello...

there is a hidden village near the town of hillersleben that is called "Hillersleben Siedlung" .
this used to be occupied by the nazi's and after the war used by the Russian division as barracks for there troops.
the original village is still there (went there in dec 2013) hidden in the woods surrounded by a dirt wall.
in the middle of this spooky village is a monument for all the victims of the Death marches at the end of the war.
there are different plaquettes here with the names of all the victims (most of them)
there is also a little museum at the nearby Altmark kaserne who as a lot of information about the happenings there.
i ad some pictures of the place including the monument ....
i hope this could be any help