Remnants of Wehrmacht Soldiers : Burial and Commemoration Practices of German Soldiers of the Second World War in Russia and Europe, 1941 - 2023. / Nina Janz

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Cover -- HalfTitle -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Soldiers' graves -- Why Russia? -- Historiography and sources -- A note on spelling, word emphasis, and terms -- PART I: Eternal Rest: Burial Grounds for 'Warriors' and Soldiers -- 1.1 Church cemeteries and nature parks -- 1.2 The grave of a common soldier -- 1.2.1 Respecting their corpses -- 1.2.2 Remembered but not buried -- 1.3 The establishment of modern military cemeteries -- 1.3.1. The First World War and Germany's legacy of their fallen soldiers and cemeteries -- 1.4 The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK): The start of a German war grave care -- 1.5 Staging the 'Cult of the Dead': Cemeteries and memorial days -- Part II: Falling and Interred for 'Führer, Volk, und Vaterland' -- 2.1 The German burial organisation during the Second World War -- 2.1.1 Professional grave registration service and officers in the Wehrmacht -- 2.1.2 The grave officers -- On the Front Line - Julius Wessinger, Grave Officer and Evangelical Pastor of the 15th Infantry Division -- In the Rear Army Area - Grave officer of the Wehrmacht (WGO) Max Aurich -- Burials during the war -- Unregistered graves, recovery of unburied bodies, and reburials -- Notification -- Regulation vs. Reality -- 2.2 Groves of honour and the heroic landscape: Cemetery designs -- 2.2.1 Wilhelm Kreis' visions of burial sites -- 2.2.2 The Wehrmacht's designs -- 2.2.3 'Unity' and comradeships beyond death -- 2.2.4 The design and construction of cemeteries by grave officers -- 2.2.5 Offering comfort in images: Grave photographs as a measure of solace -- 2.2.6 After the "victory": Plans for cemeteries after the end of the war by the Nazis -- 2.2.7 The 'Others': POWs and convicted Wehrmacht soldiers.

Burial of enemy soldiers and POWs -- 2.3 The Nazi death cult and its materialisation in graves and cemeteries -- 2.3.1 The Heldengedenktag during the Second World War -- 2.3.2 Cemeteries as places of worship and honouring -- Symbols and Rituals -- The glorified death -- 2.3.3 The end of the cult -- PART III: Resting Beyond Borders: Unveiling Graves, Unearthing Meanings -- 3.1 The shift in meaning -- 3.1.1 Repurposing of the graves and cemeteries -- 3.1.2 German cemeteries abroad -- Designing German cemeteries -- Luxembourg German Soldier Cemetery Sandweiler -- German Soldier Cemetery Besedino, Russian Federation -- 3.1.3 Controversies about German war dead and their resting places abroad -- Russia as case study -- 3.2 Wehrmacht soldier's graves in German-Russian memory politics -- 3.2.1 War graves as a subject of bilateral negotiations -- The War Grave Agreement -- The VDK's activities in the Russian Federation -- Ethical and political considerations based on military cemeteries -- 3.2.2 Contested narratives: Sologubovka -- Soldier cemetery or 'German' soldier cemetery? -- Peace and reconciliation messages: The Church of reconciliation and the Peace Park -- A Memorial for the "Fascists"? The Sculpture of the "Mourning Mother of Nagasaki." -- Graves as Reconciliation? The VDK's efforts in Russia to use the cemeteries as places of reconciliation -- 3.2.3 Two narratives, one battlefield -- Mass graves and collective heroism in Russia -- German "Designer Cemeteries" vs. Russian mass graves -- Russian responses -- 'Peace' Mission -- Dialogue? -- Accounting, Searching, Identifying -- Families' Need for Closure and the Exhumation of Fallen Soldiers' Remains -- Exhumations by the VDK -- 3.3 Exhumations and reburials -- 3.3.1 Exhumations, and reburials in the post-war period of Wehrmacht soldiers in Russia -- Finding Wehrmacht graves -- The Exhumation Process.

Pavlovsk, Leningrad Oblast -- Oboyan, Kursk Oblast -- Persistent Pursuit: Advancing the Mission -- 3.3.2 The "sacred" duty?: Exhumations of military dead -- Politics of the "Dead" -- Germany's answer in treating the dead soldiers -- Conclusion -- Bibliography.

This book examines the treatment of German military casualties from WWII to the present. It covers wartime burial practices on the Eastern Fronts, post-war exhumations, contemporary cemetery construction in Russia, binational commemoration and mourning practices, and Germany's reconciliation policies with Russia.