Heidefriedhof, Cultural heritage cemetery in Dresden, Germany.
Heidefriedhof is a woodland cemetery in Dresden with open green spaces and mature trees throughout the grounds. The site features multiple pathways, graves of varying sizes, and a structure for cremation burials.
Plans for a non-denominational municipal cemetery began in 1913 under city building director Hans Erlwein, but World War I and inflation delayed work. The site was incorporated into Dresden in 1927, and the first urn burial took place in 1936, followed by the first coffin burial in 1937. After the February 1945 air raids, most bombing victims were buried here, and in 1948 Nazi symbols at the Thingplatz were removed.
Since 1964/65 the separate graves of bombing victims, Nazi victims and World War I soldiers have formed one memorial grove, conceived in the GDR as a central "anti-fascist and anti-militarist" site. A red triangle standing on its point, the concentration-camp badge for political prisoners, marks the memorial to the victims of fascism, designed by the city building officer Leibhold in 1951. Until 2015 the official wreath-laying for the victims of the 13–15 February 1945 air raids took place here each year.
The main entrance is on Moritzburger Landstraße, where a visitor car park and a Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe bus stop sit. From there the main avenue runs to the Feierhalle on the left, while a path on the right leads through the Ehrenhain to the mass graves of the 1945 bombing victims. A secondary entrance faces it on the Radebeul side, and smaller entrances open from the surrounding woods. The grounds lie in the Dresdner Heide protected landscape, with the A4 motorway running along an 80-metre safety strip at the edge.
The cemetery's tree stock partly descends from the old Trachauer Neuheide forest, and tens of thousands of Erica plants brought from the Lüneburger Heide were planted to strengthen the heath character. The grounds lie within the Dresdner Heide protected landscape.
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