Neuville-St Vaast German war cemetery, German military cemetery in Neuville-Saint-Vaast, France.
Neuville-Saint-Vaast German war cemetery is a 10-hectare site with dark metal crosses arranged in geometric patterns across the landscape. It holds the remains of approximately 44,800 soldiers who were gathered from across the region after the war.
French authorities established this burial ground between 1919 and 1923, gathering fallen soldiers from approximately 110 municipalities across the Pas-de-Calais region. This period reflected France's effort to collect and honor the many dead from the First World War.
The cemetery holds 129 graves for German Jewish soldiers, each marked with the Star of David symbol. Visitors place pebbles on these stones, following a tradition rooted in Jewish burial customs.
The cemetery lies about 1.5 km south of Neuville-Saint-Vaast village centre, screened from the fields by an earth embankment planted with tall hedges. At the gateway a small chapel holds alphabetical directories giving the plot and section of each grave, with a map; name books and a guest book are kept in a grated niche in the entrance hall.
Each metal cross bears the names of four soldiers, two on each side, as a space-saving design. An ossuary in the northern section holds approximately 8,040 unidentified soldiers whose identities could not be determined.
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