During track construction work near Lippe in Money Orders The soldier’s skeleton was found in the Lower Rhine: two meters deep, covered in earth, in a former bomb crater. “The man was probably thrown there dead. Unfortunately we don’t know his name. He didn’t have any identification,” said Patrick Leidig.
The 37-year-old is responsible for North Rhine-Westphalia as a member of the German War Graves Commission. Whenever the remains of dead soldiers were found in the state, he would join in. It holds the remains of bones or clothing of the dead and ensures a dignified burial in one of the approximately 2,100 war cemeteries in North Rhine-Westphalia.
“Returning their history to the dead”
“I wanted to give those men their faces and their history,” Leidig said. “No one deserves to lie outside in the unknown.” There is no longer an active search for war victims in North Rhine-Westphalia, but there are always accidental finds – mostly during construction work. Leidig has buried more than 30 soldiers in North Rhine-Westphalia in such cases.
War victims, who also include resistance fighters, foreign prisoners of war and bomb attack victims, have – unlike civilians – a permanent right to rest in cemeteries, as Volksbund NRW managing director Stefan Schmidt stressed. This is to keep the memory alive.
Unfortunately, the identification of the dead is central to his work – so that families can come to terms with death and also as a symbol for today’s generations, especially on Remembrance Day, when the victims of war and tyranny are remembered. “The youngest soldier I excavated died at the age of 15. A group of students. His whole life was ahead of him. And what did he die for – in vain,” he said.
Engraved name helps identification
On the lips of the soldier’s skeleton, Leidig also found remains of uniforms, buttons, shoes and eating utensils. But that doesn’t help identification in this case. Sometimes there are names engraved on helmets or cutlery, Leidig said.
The man remains unknown. He was buried in the military cemetery in Diersfordter Forest near Wesel. Soon he – like many others in the cemetery – received a simple grave cross with the inscription “Unknown Soldier”.
Illegal detectors made the Volksbund’s job difficult
The dead were buried without previous metal utensils – also to avoid attracting the attention of grave robbers. Hundreds of illegal detectorists are on the move looking for helmets, guns and ammunition, Leidig said. It has become a popular sport that is legally prohibited and dangerous – dangerous because there is often explosive ammunition on the ground – for example on the former battlefield in the Hürtgen Forest near Aachen.
If identification is successful, he is often met by grateful family members, Umbetter said. Upon hearing the news of his death, an old woman from Münsterland gave him her husband’s last postal letter at the funeral. “Now I can die in peace,” the woman said, and she actually died a few weeks later.
Once a battle zone – now a military cemetery
The military cemetery in Diersfordter Forest lay quietly and peacefully in the autumn sunshine just before Remembrance Day. It is hard to imagine that in the spring of 1945, this was the main battle zone during the massive “Operation Plunder” offensive, which wanted to force the British and Americans to force a crossing across the Rhine.
German soldiers shot Allied paratroopers who landed here, Leidig said. “Dead people were hanging from trees everywhere.” Thousands of soldiers died in attacks on both sides.
School classes should visit often-forgotten military cemeteries more often, Leidig suggested. Funerals tell the stories of the dead and thus serve as examples of peace. This could be enhanced by app-guided tours, which are already offered at some cemeteries. “Especially now, when there is so much talk about war again, you have to show people what impact war has had on you.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251116-930-298514/1
