0174 Totenhügel und Waldfriedhöfe – die Gräber und Friedhöfe für gefallene Wehrmachtssoldaten während des Zweiten Weltkriegs zwischen individueller Gräberfürsorge und nationalsozialistischem Totenkult

Abstract

The German soldiers who fell during the Second World War were buried in large cemetery complexes throughout Europe. Construction and design guidelines drawn up by the Wehrmacht itself put national socialist ideology into a concrete form, furthering the myth of sacrifice for the fatherland. Hitler appointed a special architect, Wilhelm Kreis, to design gigantic memorials. In the course of the war both the Wehrmacht and the architect had to adjust their plans to the realities of war; the "heroic" plans could not be realized.