DThe project has been controversial and the front has become stronger: In Bremen, the Senate hopes to build a railway workshop on the site of the former “Russian cemetery.” But there have been protests against this for a long time: the Bremen Peace Forum and an initiative of local citizens pointed out that the remains of nearly 300 Soviet prisoners of war may still be there.
Archaeologists have searched the site for three months-so far, bone remains and identification tags of nearly two dozen soldiers have been found. They also found a skull, Bremen archaeologist Uta Halle reported in an interview with FAZ. They have been able to assign nine brands to people. Halle and her team were able to find the name and date of birth in the database of the Russian Ministry of Defense. “We were able to return their identities to nine people.”
Flip through documents and research cards
Halle is working on this case. Even during the excavation preparations in July, she believed that they would still find human remains. She has studied the documents and maps for several weeks until she has determined what the information from the Peace Forum and Citizens Initiative is.Because except for a few historians, the city is convinced that after the end of the world Second World War All the bones of the “Russian Cemetery” were transferred to an honorary cemetery. “Now we have to find out that the excavation is incomplete,” Harley said.
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From 1941 to 1945, there were several labor camps for prisoners of war in the Oslebshausen district of Bremen. Especially in the early days, many of them died of exhaustion or disease in just a few weeks. The cemetery is located between the military camp and the workplace in the industrial port. “Prisoners have to go through it every day,” Hallie reported in July. After the Second World War, the area was partially fallowed and some smaller companies settled there.
This area is actually very suitable for the Red, Green and Red Senate to build a railway workshop there. French railway company Alstom was awarded the contract to better connect Bremen and Bremerhaven to the northwestern part of Lower Saxony. The Senate wants 100 new jobs. But over the years, plans in the region have been resisted. Peace Forum spokesperson Ekkehard Lentz (Ekkehard Lentz) requested that the area be recognized as a war cemetery protected by international law, and the planning should be immediately stopped and the monument erected. This topic is also important because it is about the memories of Soviet prisoners of war and forced laborers.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned in the annihilation war in Eastern Europe this year that millions of people were killed in the annihilation war of the Eastern European Socialists, but their suffering “is not as our responsibility.” It is deeply burned in our collective memory.” 80th anniversary of the attack on the Soviet Union. Lentz accused the Senate of ignoring this responsibility. He has to wait for the final result of the excavation first.
It was only planned for six months at first. Based on the current findings, it may take longer, Halle said. But she also emphasized that there is no time pressure in the city. “When we are done, we are done.” Bremen is already in talks with Ukraine and Russia on the whereabouts of these discoveries. It was not until Monday that representatives of the Russian Embassy visited the excavation site.
