Gedenkstätte Feldscheune Isenschnibbe Gardelegen

Cemetery description

The ‘Feldscheune Isenschnibbe’ Memorial, located a bit off the beaten track and on the border of the town of Gardelegen, was established after the war. This large cemetery is the final resting place for 1,016 victims of World War II, mostly prisoners of the Mittelbau-Dora and the Neuengamme concentration camps, as well as members of the resistance movement. The deceased came from Poland, the Soviet Union, France, Hungary, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Spain and Mexico. On the night of 13 and 14 April 1945, i.e. right before the liberation, they were burnt alive in a barn. Nowadays, the remains of the wall of the barn bear an inscription that informs visitors about the terrifying fate of the deceased and calls to combat Fascism. In front of the wall one can find rows of upright single headstones that symbolically commemorate many of the deceased of various nationalities. Among these is a memorial stone dedicated to the Polish citizens. The area is also marked by several information boards with photographs and information about the history of this place. The present-day state of knowledge assumes that 60 former Polish concentration camp prisoners lie in this cemetery. In total, out of 1,016 victims, the identity of only 305 has been established. Since 2011, their names have been inscribed upon a metal book that can be found on the edge of the cemetery. After 1945, the remains of several identified victims from Belgium and France were transferred to their home countries.
In September 2020, the Documentation Centre was made available to the visitors of this site.

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