Nazareth German cemetery, War cemetery in Nazareth, Israel.
Nazareth German Cemetery occupies a 1,200-square-metre plot on a hillside inside the grounds of the Holy Family Hospital, also called the Italian Hospital. The site is reached through the hospital and lies within the monastery cemetery of the Barmherzige Brüder. A tower holding a bell brought from Germany stands on the grounds, and wooden crosses made from the propellers of crashed aircraft are mounted on its inner walls.
German troops reached Palestine from January 1915 and withdrew along the front until British forces under General Allenby took Nazareth on 20 September 1918, after which the German headquarters had been based there. The dead were first buried beside the Holy Family Hospital, a German field hospital; in 1934 the Mandate government bought the plot and leased it to Germany for 999 years. The cemetery, designed by Robert Tischler, was inaugurated on 30 June 1935 and repaired in 1967 and 1982.
The cemetery is maintained by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, with gardening help from German volunteers and Israeli Chaverim (friends) from the Kfar Tikva village for people with disabilities. A memorial ceremony is held each year on Volkstrauertag at the invitation of the German embassy, attended mainly by military attachés accredited in Israel.
The cemetery lies on a hillside within the grounds of the Holy Family Hospital (the Italian Hospital) and covers 1,200 square metres. Entry is possible only through the hospital, and the site sits inside the monastery cemetery of the hospital. The ground is unstable and has suffered earthquake damage, so watch your step.
The peace symbol is a tower holding a large bell brought from Germany; wooden crosses on its inner walls are made from propellers of crashed aircraft. The cemetery covers 1,200 square metres on a hillside within the Italian hospital grounds, and entry is possible only through the hospital.
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