Europe2016

The main and historic entrance to the cemetery, designed to be a reminder of the bunkers that were once at this location. See: www.digi-cms.be/langemark-poelkapelle2.be/toerisme-en/590-www/592-www.html

Three basalt-lava crosses. The crosses reflect the motif of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK) which is responsible for the cemetery.

44,924..... The cemetery contains 44,924 war dead, the vast majority of which are unidentified. The rectangular grave markers in this picture designate locations where eight soldiers, identified and unidentified, are buried; behind me is a mass grave described in later pictures. From what I can put together, it seems that the area where the cemetery is located was originally what was known as the 'student cemetery' due to being the burial ground of the large number of German students who died in the first battles of Ypres. At some point in the 1930's this area was laid out as a German cemetery by (or for) the Volksbund, a German charity that manages the cemetery. Various accounts suggest that there was a battle line through here during the war, so I could not figure out what happened at this location from early in the war until the 1930's. In the 1950’s there was a decision to consolidate the graves of Germans that were scattered across Belgium into a smaller number of cemeteries, including this one. Thus many of those buried here died elsewhere in Belgium. See: www.greatwar.co.uk/ypres-salient/cemetery-langemark.htm and www.digi-cms.be/langemark-poelkapelle2.be/toerisme-en/590-www/592-www.html

A grave of 25,000 The area of the "kameradengraf" (comrade grave) where the remains of approximately 25,000 are buried. (see adjacent pictures)

Tablets surrounding the "kameradengraf" (comrade grave) with the names of soldiers believe to be buried in the mass grave (see adjacent picture).

The mass grave is believed to include the remains of 16,940 soldiers whose names can be determined even though their bodes cannot; each of the 48 tablets contains a portion of those names. If you look at a large version of the picture, you can see that the name, position, and date of death for each soldier is listed.

At the end of the "kameradengraf" is a statue of four soldiers. The artist was inspired to create the sculptures based on a photograph taken at the cemetery in 1918 of four soldiers mourning the burial of others.

Visiting the German cemetery in Langemark was the end of my day of visiting cemeteries near Ypres. Though my original plan had been to visit some of the WWI memorials with striking sculptures commemorating the dead, I found myself glad that it worked out that I visited relatively small and ordinary looking cemeteries located within a relatively short distance of each other. The proximity of the cemeteries, the fact that they had been near battlefields, and the fact that many of the cemeteries filled in very short periods of time, resulted in a strong sense of the high volume of death in WWI. In addition, their ordinariness and their intermingling with fields and farm houses, created a sense of the dreariness of war – of death as a tragic but almost inevitable part of the human cycle.

I had mainly stopped in Dusseldorf to see the new architecture in the old harbor (see next photo), but accidentally got on the trolley in the wrong direction, and discovered this interesting park.

In the MedienHafen (Media Harbour) area of Dusseldorf. MedienHafen is a portion of the old harbour that was no longer in use and thus was redeveloped with buildings designed by some of the most famous architects of current time. See: www.duesseldorf-tourismus.de/en/sights/medienhafen

In the MedienHafen, an interesting graphic depicting dockworkers from early in the 20th century. I didn't see a plaque describing the graphic, so have no other information.

An older harbour building converted into a modern space, with a grain elevator in the background to serve as a reminder of the fact that the harbor is still used for shipping.

In the distance, the Rhineturm communications tower. It's possible to go up in the tower for a sweeping view of the area, but I didn't do that for time reasons. The water on the left side is the Rhine.

More detail on Neuer Zollhof, three (left to right, white plaster, stainless steel, and red brick) curved and leaning buildings by Frank Gehry In the MedienHafen See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuer_Zollhof

In the MedienHafen. The building with the climbing figures is the Roggendorf-Haus and the figures are titled "Flossis." See: mymodernmet.com/rosalie-flossis

The building close to the left edge with the diving board top is Colorium. See: www.emporis.com/buildings/100051/colorium-duesseldorf-germany

Yeah, warmth! The light here makes this look somewhat deceptive. It was quite cold that day with temperature only about a degree above freezing and, on the harbor side (the other pictures) fairly high wind.

A couple of blocks from MedienHafen, a very conventional neighborhood.