Maleme German War cemetery, War cemetery in Maleme, Crete, Greece

The Maleme German War Cemetery is a burial ground on a hillside near Maleme in Crete, Greece. It holds the graves of German soldiers, most of whom died during the airborne battle for Crete in 1941, and is marked by rows of low stone markers set into the slope.

The cemetery was established by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge and inaugurated on 6 October 1974. In 1960, German fallen from scattered field graves across Crete were gathered at Gonia Monastery before being moved to this site for burial.

At the entrance building, visitors can leaf through name books of the fallen and view a small exhibition in three languages about the cemetery's creation and the work of the Volksbund. The layout of the grounds echoes the four main battle areas of Chania, Maleme, Rethymnon and Iraklion, a detail that shapes how people move through the site.

The site lies a short drive south of Maleme's airport and the old coastal road, with steps leading from the street into the grounds. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes for the uneven, sloping paths and allow time to walk among the grave fields and the memorial area.

Among those buried here is Bruno Bräuer, the German commander of the Crete fortress, who was convicted as a war criminal and executed in Athens in 1947. Metal plaques on the memorial square list the names of 360 soldiers who fell on the island but whose bodies were never recovered.