German war cemetery in Ysselsteyn (Holland)

[Óscar G]

Thanks for sharing these photos and info, Rene. I wanted to know how Ysselsteyn cemetery was like... Albert Schweitzer´s sentence is quite meaningful: "The soldiers´graves are great preachers of peace". I recall the same sentence while visiting La Cambe in Normandy... I also remember a German vet, who looked at me and said: "God has the last word".
Best regards. Óscar

[Chet Sowersby]

Rene,
Thank you for showing something that most of us will never see.

Chet

[kokstok]

Thanks for all the kind replies, i do have some extra information.

i don't know of any knights cross holders that are burried there but there are three generals lying there and also two royalties:
Egmont Prinz zur Lippe Weissenfeld and Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn Wittgenstein both are relarives of the late Dutch prince Bernhard zur Lippe biesterfeld (hope the spelling is correct)

It is also the lest resting place of 85 german soldiers from WW I who came floded from the river meuse (Maas) during WW I first they wherte burried in Maastricht and after WW II re burried in Ysselsteyn.

The founder of this cemetery, the Dutch Captain L. Timmermans, who had a lot of difficulties in his attempt to make it a reasonably place is also burried there.

German POW's did most of the grave digging for there fallen comrads.

[Etienne B.]

@Adrian:

I have searched for his grave-number in the books at the cemetary office.His name was in it,but no number was mentioned I found this quite remarkable because when his name is known there should be a correct administration.Nobody was there so I couldn't ask.
His photo can be found in the book'' ritterkreuztraeger der waffen-ss''.

Etienne

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Etienne, that is odd

I am sure that I have read somewhere that his body was never found?

Try and find out at the cemetery office. Could it be that he is recorded as being KIA in Holland but not laid to rest there?

I know the photo that you mentioned I guess you know I am very interested in "OP Market-Garden"

Cheers, Ade.

[VtwinVince]

Prinz zur Lippe and Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein are holders of the Oakleaves and Swords, respectively, both famous night-fighter aces.

[Peter A Larson]

I've often wondered how many of these war graves are for unknown soldiers. If you look at the threads of the posted pictures, you will find many pictures of two, three, four , graves marked with Birch crosses and helmets. Does any body know how many unaccounted or unknown there really are?

[Maurice]

The strange thing with the 'unkown' graves is that a number of there were known prior to their transport to IJsselstein. There were a number of cemetries used by the Wehrmacht, after the war they were relocated at one place - IJsselstein. During this relocation some graves, bones and/or administration got mixed up, hence the unkown graves.

I know this because some documents I saw. Two soldiers, at first buried in Rotterdam, were transported to IJsselstein, one kept his name, the other was laid to rest as unkown.

[Hank C.]

Great fotos. I notice the crosses at this cemetery aren't similar to those I saw in other WW2 German cemeteries. These more resemble the tall, thinner crosses found in Allied cemeteries.
Good work. Keep it up!

Hank

[behblc]

Egmont Prinz zur Lippe Weissenfeld - like Sayn-Wittgenstein ,a major player in the NJG.

The uncle I mentioned earlier zur Lippe shot down two Halifaxes with a few minutes of each other on the same night .
He was lost in late 44 along the Dutch / Belgian border.

[Tino]

Makes me wonder why the bodies were relocated and reburied within the Netherlands, why not rebury them in Germany.

Also I noticed that the graves are taken care of by the German war commission, the Allied cemetaries are taken care of by the Dutch government, no?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Tino, I think it was German policy to bury the soldiers within the country where they fell.

The British & Canadian War Cemeteries are looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commision.

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

I do know that the Soviet War memorials and cemteries in Germany have to be maintained by the German Govt. which was an agreement worked out between them the Russians after German re-unification. I found this out on my trip to Berlin in April.

Cheers, Ade.

[Tino]

Interesting stuff, thanks for clarifying this Ade.
I visited the British/Allied cemetary in Oosterbeek last year, it was nicely landscaped with flowers and plants and well maintained
The German cemetary gives me an eerie feeling.

[rexmundi]

Ysselsteyn today. Ceremony on Volkstrauertag.

Memorial for the soldiers from wwI, Mostly found in the Maas river,



It was cold and dark this morning, but the sun came during the ceremony,

[rexmundi]

To small to see on this resized photo: Few Dutch names and SS ranks in this part



A woman's grave with a Dutch sounding name. I wonder what here story is...