Kloster Irsee

Cemetery description

During World War II, the buildings of the Benedictine monastery in Irsee were taken over by a branch of the Medical and Care Kaufbeuren Institution which, in the area of Bavaria, played the role of a so-called ‘assembly point’ for incurably sick labourers from the East and from Poland. This was one of the Action T4 centres that were part of the program of the physical ‘elimination of a life unworthy of life’ (German ‘Vernichtung von lebensunwertem Leben’). Within this action, mentally sick patients and those with hereditary disabilities were murdered. Approximately 2,000 patients were killed in Kaufbeuren and Irsee, above all children.
Between 1943-1945, in total, 242 forced labourers and prisoners of war were also admitted to hospital, including 81 from Poland. From among these, according to the hospital books of admissions and discharges, 22 persons died or were killed in Kaufbeuren.
The monastery has a cemetery for the victims of the euthanasia program. The deceased are commemorated by a sculpture by Martin Wank and information boards. The graves of Polish victims can be found in this cemetery and in the cemetery that belongs to St Stephen’s Church in Irsee.

Address details