Hauptfriedhof Mannheim

Cemetery description

The Main Cemetery in Mannheim holds two burial sites for Polish victims of World War II. One of them is dedicated to prisoner-victims of the Mannheim-Sandhofen sub-camp of the Natzweiler concentration camp as well as to forced labourers from Poland and other countries. The site is the resting place for 45 Polish citizens.
The other grave site is the so-called ‘Polish Cemetery’ that holds the graves of almost 300 Polish citizens repressed by the Third Reich. These were, above all, prisoners of concentration camps and forced labourers who, after the war, stayed in Germany as so-called ‘displaced persons’ (DPs). Some worked for the American administration and served in guard battalions. In May 1945, approximately 30,000 Poles lived in tents, barracks and empty bunkers in Mannheim. When the war ended, they stayed on in camps for displaced persons created by the UNRA international organisation (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration). In post-war Mannheim-Käfertal, a training centre was also created and the American Army established Guard and Technical Units that were joined by Polish citizens. The Poles who stayed in Germany began to create Polish schools, develop cultural life and establish nursing institutions for Polish orphans. This is the period of time when the Polish graves came to be within the Main Cemetery in Mannheim.
In 2018, this burial site was revitalised. This project was completed by the Foundation for ‘Polish-German Reconciliation’, the Polish Catholic Mission in Mannheim, the Polish Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Munich and Polish Diaspora organisations, with financial help from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. The new memorial is marked by a centrally placed stone cross with the Polish national colours painted on it, and by plaques with the names of 668 Polish citizens that lie in the Main Cemetery in Mannheim as well as the names of those whose graves are or were located in other cemeteries in this part of Germany.
The memorial plaque bears the following inscription: ‘In memory of men and women of Poland that lie here in the Main Cemetery in Mannheim and in other places. The majority were deported for forced labour. After 1945, they stayed in Germany and lived here as civilians or served in the Polish Guard Units governed by the American Army.’ The place remains under the care of the Polish Catholic Mission in Mannheim.

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