Hameln Prison Reburials

[David Thompson]

Let's get back on topic.

[Little John]

My apologies, I did not intend to start any disagreement here. I have been interested in the stories of the trials and executions for several decades and finding myself last weekend at long last in the vicinity of Hameln I decided to go and check out the actual places concerned.

Sincere thanks to Konrad Hagen for his efforts to help me. In the end I found the gravesite very easily. I have marked it on the map of the cemetery with a red spot.



When you walk up from the buildings on the forecourt you will come very quickly to a fork as shown in the next picture. Take the right hand patrh which leads downwards. The metal fence in the picture seems to be a temporary measure as they are creating a memorial to victims of the Nazis alongside the executed persons' gravesite.



In this next picture you can see the graves and memorial to the victims of the Nazis (persons executed by the Nazis in Hameln prison). Just beyond that is the site of the mass graves of the Nazis executed by the British.



And in this next image you can see the same view from the other end of the path. That is the gravesite as it is today. They seem to have been doing some work in the vicinity so I have no idea whether or not it will remain as it is in the future.



If anyone has any further information or wants to know any more details of the site please ask and I will try my best to answer. Many thanks.

[Brumbar]

My apologies, I did not intend to start any disagreement here. I have been interested in the stories of the trials and executions for several decades and finding myself last weekend at long last in the vicinity of Hameln I decided to go and check out the actual places concerned.

Sincere thanks to Konrad Hagen for his efforts to help me. In the end I found the gravesite very easily. I have marked it on the map of the cemetery with a red spot.



When you walk up from the buildings on the forecourt you will come very quickly to a fork as shown in the next picture. Take the right hand patrh which leads downwards. The metal fence in the picture seems to be a temporary measure as they are creating a memorial to victims of the Nazis alongside the executed persons' gravesite.



In this next picture you can see the graves and memorial to the victims of the Nazis (persons executed by the Nazis in Hameln prison). Just beyond that is the site of the mass graves of the Nazis executed by the British.



And in this next image you can see the same view from the other end of the path. That is the gravesite as it is today. They seem to have been doing some work in the vicinity so I have no idea whether or not it will remain as it is in the future.



If anyone has any further information or wants to know any more details of the site please ask and I will try my best to answer. Many thanks.

What exactly is the satisfaction in spending time on this? Not trying to be rude, but frankly I can't see why.

[Little John]

What exactly is the satisfaction in spending time on this? Not trying to be rude, but frankly I can't see why.

And what do you spend time on?

Like many on this forum I am interested in the history of the Third Reich and whenever possible I like to see the places where this history occurred. I happened to be near Hameln last week on other business and decided to make a trip out to see something that I have heard referred to frequently over the years, namely these graves. This interests me and obviously some others here too as there is already a thread on the subject. If one is not interested one need not read the thread.

[David Thompson]

Brumbar -- You asked Little John:

What exactly is the satisfaction in spending time on this? Not trying to be rude, but frankly I can't see why.

The forum purpose is to present facts about 20th Century warfare, fact-based argument, and other on-topic factual materials of interest to our readers. Questions about the motivation of one or another poster in starting, or contributing, to a thread, don't advance our forum purpose. If you feel that your question is important, please use our PM system to discuss it. Unnecessarily long quotes wastes bandwidth as well, and has the tendency to bore the readers who have just looked through the materials you're quoting. Please avoid this practice in future posts.

[Konrad Hagen]

Thank you very much Little John for your comprehensive report on finding the unmarked graves of those who fell victim to victors vengeance all those years ago. Yours is exactly the type of post which makes the Axis History Forum stand out from the crowd.

Judging from your photographs it would appear as though the authorities have deliberately reduced the size of the memorial area by allowing part of the original site to become overgrown with vegetation.


P.S. Little John, check your private messages.

[RichyB]

Hello there. Just wondering if there has been any new developments with regards this thread?

Do anyone know if, in 1986 when the site was levelled, the bodies were exhumed or left in situ with just the grave markings removed?

Any updated images of the grave site?

It would appear, from reading different literature on the subject, that the 91 burials, at Hamelin Prison that included Irma Grese & Josef Kramer, would have been the last to be buried on the Am Wehl site. Apparently, when the prison ran out of room, for the burials, the executed guards / staff were automatically buried in Am Wehl. Since the reburials occurred after the trials it seems logical that the reburials would have been the last for the specific section in Am Wehl.

[Hawkeye_1755]

Just a thought, doesn't the cemetery have burial records? Unless it just generalizes that area as "war criminals" or whatever, I'd think they could pin point certain individuals.

[Scottt]

Here is a very detailed account of the executions after the War.
About page 11 or 12, it discusses Hameln. After burying 90 in the Prison Yard, 3 coffins high, they ran out of space, and transported the other approx. 60 to the town cemetary where they later exhumed the 90 from Hameln and reinterred them in the town cemetary. All of the people executed at Hameln are at the same town cemetary discussed in the posts above. It goes into detail on
politics involved and the "leveling" of the area in 1986:

https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/fi ... ges_1_.pdf