Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery
The Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery is located at La Maison Blanche, along the D937 road that connects Arras to Béthune.
It contains the remains of 44,833 German soldiers from 100 different units and is sadly the largest German cemetery from the First World War in France!
These men fell on the battlefields of Artois, some defending the positions at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette from August 1914 to 1915, while others fought on Vimy Ridge in the spring of 1917 and the autumn of 1918.
Many more perished in the terrible trench warfare that persisted between the major offensives.
These men were initially buried in mass graves or temporary cemeteries spread across 110 communes in the Pas-de-Calais department.
The Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery was thus established between 1919 and 1923 by the French military authorities to gather the remains of these soldiers.
From 1975 to 1983, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) undertook the reorganisation of this 10-hectare cemetery.
The original wooden crosses were first replaced with anthracite grey cast iron crosses, and the site was redesigned.
A large cross bearing the inscription Paix aux Hommes de Bonne Volonté” – Peace to Men of Good Will – Friede den Menschen guten Willens stands at the entrance to the cemetery.
You will also find a model representing the positions of the various troops on the battlefields of Artois in the porch, as well as the Book of Remembrance, a guestbook, and a donation box.
Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery – Graves
The Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery, like all German military cemeteries, stands out by its simplicity and profound emotional impact.
It indeed features a vast lawn where numerous dark grey crosses are meticulously arranged in geometric patterns, punctuated at regular intervals by groups of three massive stone crosses.
The cemetery is planted with trees, and is traversed by a locust-tree-lined central avenue leading to an imposing black cross.
The serene and natural atmosphere of the cemetery invites contemplation and meditation.
This natural setting reflects a cultural tradition rooted in Germanic mythology, and more specifically in the cult of the dead. In ancient times, the graves of warriors were often located at the edge of forests, where the trees provided essential shade for the eternal rest of the deceased, thus facilitating their passage to the Warriors’ Paradise.
Each cross bears the names of four soldiers, two on each side. A total of 36,793 known German soldiers rest here.
An ossuary, located north of the cemetery, houses the remains of 8,040 unknown soldiers! The Mur des Disparus – Wall of the Missing is covered with bronze memorial plaques engraved with the names of soldiers whose bodies were never recovered.
Finally, the Book of Remembrance, located in the entrance porch, contains the names of all the soldiers buried in the German military cemetery at Neuville-Saint-Vaast
Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery – 129 Jewish graves
The Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery contains the graves of 129 German Jewish soldiers among its 44,833 tombs.
These soldiers are buried by individual graves.
Each grave was marked with a headstone bearing their name and the Star of David.
During our visit, we noticed that several tombstones were topped with small pebbles, although many of these had fallen to the ground.
We were told that this was a traditional practice in Ashkenazi Jewish funeral rites respected in Central and Eastern Europe.
However, we were also told that this practice originally came from Palestine, where the families of the deceased would place blades of grass on the graves, then set a stone on top of the grass.
Over time, the grass would dry out and be blown away by the wind, symbolising the fleeting nature of life.
The stones, however, remained imperishable witnesses to their memory.
Finding this tradition deeply touching, we have endeavored to replace the pebbles that fell from the graves, so that the memory of those soldiers may be preserved.
Neuville-Saint-Vaast German War Cemetery – Hanover Monument
An imposing memorial to the 164th Hanoverian Infantry Regiment stands in the section of the cemetery bordering the road.
Originally erected in a German military cemetery in Boiry-Sainte-Rictude, a village south of Arras, the monument bears the following epitaph, taken from a poem by Ludwig Uhland:
Der Gute Kamerad.
Ich hatt einen Kameraden – I had a good friend
einen bessern findst du nicht – You will not find a better one
J’avais un bon camarade
T’en trouveras pas de meilleur
Pas-de-Calais department – Neuville-Saint-Vaast- La Maison Blanche on D937
Coordinates: Lat 50.343270 – Long 2.751866
