War graves of Soviet prisoners of war

This war cemetery was established in 1941 on what is now Vardingholter Straße to bury Soviet soldiers who died during the Second World War at the nearby 'Stadtwaldlager' (Stalag VI F) in Bocholt.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, millions of Soviet soldiers were taken prisoner by the Germans. Living conditions for these prisoners were particularly appalling: they initially lived in tents and earth pits, and later in simple wooden barracks, suffering from malnutrition, the cold and a lack of medical care.

In popular parlance, the burial ground came to be known as the 'Russian Cemetery', in line with the Nazis' racial ideology, although the people buried here came from a total of 28 different countries of the former Soviet Union, such as Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, etc.

Initially, the graves were marked with simple wooden crosses, which were later replaced by concrete slabs bearing grave numbers.

In 1964, the remains of 169 Soviet soldiers, who had previously been buried in the neighbouring Jewish cemetery, were also reinterred here. A total of 1,970 graves are documented today, 1,676 of which are named. There are still a large number of unmarked graves.

Further Soviet prisoners of war are buried at the main municipal cemetery on Blücherstraße.

After the end of the war, members of the Red Army erected the central obelisk bearing the Soviet star as a memorial. The cemetery has been owned by the city since 1945 and has been a listed building since 2008.

In 2020, granite steles bearing the names, dates of birth and dates of death of all those buried there were erected.

This war cemetery commemorates the suffering of Soviet prisoners of war in Bocholt and, as a place of remembrance, serves as a reminder of the horrors of war and the necessity of peace.