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Originally Posted by Andre
We stopped at a German cemetery in the Netherlands. It was in poor condition, but I get that because no one wants to honor the dead of the oppressor.
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That is probably the one at Ysselsteyn, the only official German war cemetery in the Netherlands. It's managed by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge. It contains approx 32000 graves including Dutch and foreign SS members and war criminals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre
If you hadn't heard about it, every American grave in the Netherlands has been adopted. It is a badge of honor among the Dutch and we were told that in divorce proceedings, they fight over who keeps it. .
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That sounds like you've been to Margraten war cemetery. It is managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission however all the graves have been adopted and are taken care of by locals. Often these are passed down to the next generation in a family.
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Originally Posted by Andre
The curators over the years have gathered information on the deceased including pictures.
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There's approx 8300 graves there and 1700 names of missing captured on a memorial wall. They're currently at 5300 people of whom they've found a photo.
More info here:
https://www.degezichtenvanmargraten.nl/index.php/en-us/
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre
One day per year in the spring, they display all the artifacts at the grave site, and school children take a field trip to see how war affects lives.
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That was a mandatory activity when I was in (lower under 12 years old) school. We also visited a transit camp from where people were sent on to the concentration camps.
I am not sure if they still do this today though, some of it is a bit much for kids but on the other side to this day I still remember seeing some images being displayed there. Those images were of what happened to people after they ended up the concentration (or death camps). I will never forget that I think, so those trips served a purpose.