Berlin - Invalidenfriedhof

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Berlin - Invalidenfriedhof

The cemetery from 1748 contains several German graves from the subsequent wars. One of the more famous is Gerhard von Scharnhorst, a German war hero from the Napoleonic Wars, but also "The Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen lies here.
About 18,000 funerals have taken place at the Invalidenhof.

General Gerhard von Scharnhorst 1755 - 1813

Guards of honor at Reinhard Heydrich's monument in Prague - 1942

The Germans erected a monument to Heydrich in Prague which was torn down by the Czechs in 1945.

The small concrete foundation slightly to the left in the picture is what is left of Reinhard Heydrich's grave monument

Reinhard Heydrich was buried here with pomp and splendor after the shooting attack in Prague. Heydrich is probably best known as the man behind the Wansee Conference January 20, 1942 - which dealt with "Die Endlöung der Judenfrage" - the extermination of all Jews. Heydrich was one of the most cynical men of the Nazi regime and he should only arouse disgust. The concrete foundation for the tombstone is still there, but the tomb monument itself has been removed. In 2019, Reinhard Heydrich's grave was vandalized by unknown persons and for unknown reasons. Even though I do not support that kind of thing, it's hard not to have some sympathy for just that particular deed. Heydrich was in every way a disgrace to the human race and deserves in no way anything but the absolute greatest contempt.

Reinhard Heydrichs grave - 2019

Many famous German officers are buried here, which is also evident from the many grave monuments

As stated above, it is requested that the dead be respected, but unfortunately not everyone deserves this.

During the Nazi regime, great dignitaries such as Army Chief Werner von Fritz and Inspector General Fritz Todt, who, among other things, behind the German motorway constructions, is buried here.
After the war, the Allies ordered the demolition of all Nazi monuments and tombstones, as did the tombs of Todt and Heydrich. However, it is still possible to find the burial sites themselves, as these were not affected. It was just the monuments. Thus, one can still find quite a few concrete elements when walking around. They are the foundations of the great monuments of Nazi luminaries such as Heydrich.In the 60s after the construction of the Berlin Wall, a third of the cemetery was destroyed when the GDR built watchtowers, etc., along the wall of thecemetery. Approx. 230 graves were desecrated on that occasion.

Memorial plaque for the civilians who lost their lives during the air raids of 1940 - 45 and were buried in mass graves Not everyone buried here was necessarily a stubborn Nazi - in fact, Berliners were known to be more opposed to Hitler's regime than anywhere else in the country. It must also be said that many of those buried here are from before the Nazis took power in Germany.

Address:

Scharnhorststra? 33, 10115 Berlin, Tyskland

Opening hours:
Everyday:07?21.30

Transport:

U-Bahn Schwartzkopff Str.

Link:

Invalidenfriedhof

Wanted

Berlin is always worth a visit - summer or winter - but where to go? Here are some slightly unusual and very different suggestions for places I like to go.


Interesting places

A B C

Ny Tabel

"Beelitz-Heilstätten" - Old military hospital

Bendlerblock" - Memorial and museum

"Berlin Untervelten" - Berlin's "Underworld"

"Bernauer Straße" - About the Berlin Wall etc.

"Bornholmer Straße - Former border crossing east/west

"Boxhagener Platz - Green area and flea market"

D E F

Ny Tabel

"Europacenter" - Shopping center etc.

"Flakturm Humboldthain" - Bunker facility WW2

"Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg" - Busy airport

"Flughafen Berlin Tempelhof" - Recreational area.

"Escape tunnels between East and West Berlin" - Cold War

"Friedhof Invalidenhof" - Soldiers Cemetery

"Führerbunker" - History of the bunker. Primarily post-war

"Not finished yet

"Not finished yet

G H I J K

Ny Tabel

"Old Danish Embassy" - Tiergarten

Gedenkstätte Plötzensee" - Memorial

"Glienicker Brücke"- Dividing East/ West

- "Pallasstrasse bunker" Bunker i centrum

" Weissensee Jewish Cemetery - Jewish cemetery

Karlshorst - German-Russian Museum"

L M N O P Q R S

"Majakowskiring"
GDR elite in Pankow

Prenzlauer Berg"

- Memorial

"Schöneberg town hall" - JFK tale"

"Schwerbelastungskörper" - Pressure gauge

" Friedhof Grunewald-Forst - Cemetery for suicides

SS residences Zehlendorf

S T U V X Y Z

"Stasimuseum" - Stasimuseum

Teufelsberg" - NSA in Grunewald

"Tiergarten" - The Nordic Embassies"

"Tiergarten - Siegessäule" 67 meter tall victory column

"Villa Riefenstahl - Leni Riefenstahls House

"Zionskirche Prenzlauerberg - Where Bonhoeffer preached

Recreational areas:

"Grunewald"
- Berlins largest green areas

Strandbad Wannsee"
- Europe's largest lake bath

"Tempelhofer Park"
- Formerly Tempelhof Airport

"Tiergarten"
- Berlin's largest city park

"Volkspark Friedrichshein - Recreational area

"Volkspark Jungfernheide" - Recreational area

Food and drinks:

Centreret Tabel

"Biergarden am Neuen See" in the Tiergarten.

Biergarden "Prater" - From 1837 and the oldest

Biergarden "Schleusenkrug", "Biergarden in Tiergarten".

"Mustafas Gemüse Kebap" - known all over Berlin

"Restaurant Zillemarkt" - Unfortunately closed by now

"Zur letzten Instanz" - Oldest restaurant in Berlin

Postcard Berlin, Sebastianstraße, Berliner Mauer

Shortcut to postcards of the Berlin Wall

Berlin at War

A recommendation

Berlin's landmark is a bear

I have visited Berlin for many years. The first time was in the late 70s with a school class where the stay made such a big impression on me that I have been coming there very often ever since. The first times I visited the city, it was brutally divided into East and West and separated by the famous and infamous Berlin Wall, which from one day to the next separated families and friends.

The history of the construction of the Berlin Wall is long and begins in the division of Germany after World War II, where the four victors and allies - the Soviet Union, the United States, England and France divided the country between them. The capital, Berlin, from which the Allies were to jointly rule Germany, was also divided into four occupation zones, which each Allied ruled, however, in accordance with the overall agreements the four Allies had jointly

But the marriage was not a happy one and, in short, the differences between the United States, England and France, on the one hand, and the Soviet Union, on the other, became so big that cooperation was almost impossible.

The lack of cooperation led the Soviet Union to voluntarily decide to form the state of the GDR in their part of Germany, where West Berlin were located - now as a desert island in the east.

In the GDR, however, they had the problem that many of its inhabitants would rather live in the somewhat richer "West", where the Americans, unlike the Russians, provided financial assistance for the reconstruction after the "total war". In the Soviet-occupied German territories, the Russians instead dismantled most of the production equipment and moved it to the Soviet Union, and to make matters worse, the Germans were also ordered to pay war damages.

As the flow of refugees from the GDR increased, often by several thousand people a day, the then government of the GDR felt compelled, with the consent of the Soviet Union, to confine its population, otherwise within a few years there would be so few people left in the state no longer really would work. The flight to the West among young people, skilled and highly educated was so that the situation was unsustainable and something had to be done.
The GDR had otherwise promised its population that after some hard years of toil and toil, the reward would come, but when you could see, not least via western TV, how the nation actually fell further and further behind in relation to the west, many began to doubt truth value of the statement. For the same reason, large parts of the population began to seep to the west and this could most easily happen via Berlin, where the borders between the various sectors were still open.

When a GDR citizen had decided to become a "republican refugee", he or she typically dressed like people from the West and then subsequently bought a train ticket to Berlin , if one did not already live there. In Berlin, the trip typically continued by "U-bahn" to West Berlin. During such an escape, no significant luggage could be included, as one would easily be recognized as what one was - a refugee - and then taken to the police station for questioning and imprisonment. Although there was free passage to West Berlin, many East German border guards were posted at the border and were largely solely responsible for keeping an eye on any refugees.

The iconic photo of the soldier who escaped from the GDR to the west

Well arrived in West Berlin, you had to sign up in e.g. the Marienfelde refugee camp to apply for a residence permit. Here one was interrogated and later typically assigned to a job according to qualifications and an apartment. Many former GDR citizens have passed through Marienfelde, where there now also is a museum. It is estimated that approx. 1.35 million people passed through the camp in Marienfelde until the fall of the wall in 1989.

West Berlin was a thorn in the side of the so-called communist regimes, which on several occasions tried to get the West Allies to leave Berlin and thus let it become part of the GDR, but when that failed, the Berlin Wall or "Antifaschistischer Schutzwall" as it was officially called in the GDR was built in 1961.

"Notaufnahmelager" Marienfelde (refugee camp)

The "Schandmauer" - or wall of shame as it was called in most of the western world - came to surround the whole of West Berlin. The day of shame - 13 August 1961 - was the day when a 41 km long wall was started and further developed the following years right up to the fall of the wall in 1989.

Memorial

It is estimated that approx. 14,000 border soldiers guarded the wall - which by the way consisted of several walls - even though 860,000 mines had been laid, more than 300 watchtowers erected, trenches built and more than 600 well-trained watchdogs exposed. Throughout the period from 1961 - 1989, it is estimated that there were more than 5,000 escape attempts and that a little more than 3,000 people were apprehended. Some of these escape attempts took place through the 57 escape tunnels dug under the Berlin Wall. In all, it is believed that 190 died during escape attempts.

World War II and the Berlin Wall - even after its dismantling - have of course left their mark on the city of Berlin and there is no doubt that these events have had a colossal historical significance, but one must not forget that Berlin is also an extremely interesting and modern city, where life is lived and where the cultural offerings are enormous.

Wanted