Alkmaar General Cemetery (Ehrenfriedhof Alkmaar)

Until 1950, over 200 German soldiers were buried at Alkmaar General Cemetery in a separate section: the Ehrenfriedhof (Ehrenfriedhof), with its own entrance gate. Here lie soldiers who had died in North Holland due to combat, accidents, suicide, or execution.

The first was Rudolf Wilhelm (23), who died after a forced landing in Anna Paulowna and was buried on May 16, 1940. Initially, the graves were scattered, but later, section K was established as a field of honor, with simple wooden crosses. Thirteen graves bore a fez, the symbol of soldiers from Central Asia and the Caucasus, often from the Turkestanisches Infanterie-Bataillon 787.

The youngest soldier was 17, the oldest 65. Most died in Heiloo, where the Marine Lazarett was located. A tragic incident occurred on July 3, 1944, in Petten, when ten soldiers, including two Italian prisoners of war, were killed while laying mines.

The last German soldier buried here was Karel Beckmans on June 4, 1945.

In addition to German soldiers, eleven Dutch Landwachters were also buried there. After the war, the entrance gate was removed and separate graves were combined. In 1950, due to a lack of space and difficult expansion options, the municipality decided to rebury them in Ysselsteyn, Limburg.

The exhumations were carried out by the Royal Netherlands Army. Exhumation reports sometimes revealed harrowing discoveries: missing limbs, minimal bone remains, and in one case, animal remains.

Today, most of these soldiers and Landwachters rest in Ysselsteyn, where an annual commemoration is held on Volkstrauertag (People's Day).

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: TracesofWar
• Museum Alkmaar 40-45