Grove Church

Facts

German war graves in Denmark

By Søren Toftgaard Poulsen (4 stories)

" A cemetery north of Grove Church contains the graves of 1,119 refugees and 175 German soldiers who died during World War II or in refugee camps in the late 1940s. The cemetery plots are marked by stone crosses; one cross for four burials. The graves are evocatively planted with heather from German Lüneburger Heide. Many of those laid to rest were infants and elderly persons, which says something about the wretched health and welfare conditions in the cramped refugee camps. At Gedhus a similar refugee cemetery contains the graves of 1,333 refugees and soldiers. The cemeteries are under the protection of the German War Graves Commission, which pays for the upkeep and tending of the graves. "

Public place

Selected entry

A camp for 20,000 German refugees

Story written by Søren Toftgaard Poulsen

Time / Periode 1945 1949

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" At the end of World War II, a total of three refugee camps were established at Karup Airfield: Gedhuslejren, Grovelejren and Pilhuslejren. The German refugees were mainly from eastern provinces where civilians had fled west to escape the advancing Russian armies. At the end of the war, there were 238,000 German refugees in Denmark, and more than 20,000 were interned at the three refugee camps at Grove. The camps were heavily guarded to prevent fraternisation between German refugees and the local Danish population. In 1949, the last refugees were deported to West Germany, and the Grove camps were closed. All traces of the camps are gone; only the cemeteries testify to the harsh conditions faced by the inmates of these camps. "