Reinbek

The deceased buried there were mainly forced labourers from the nearby Wiesenfeld labour camp in Glinde, who worked in a crankshaft factory for the armaments industry. Together with them lie the prisoners of war from the work units from the Stalag X A Schleswig camp and Poles who died in the evacuation camp that existed in Reinbek and Wiesenfeld from the end of the war until 1950.   

The plot in its present shape was established in 1967, when 14 other war graves located in this cemetery were transferred there. Few graves are considered lost - they were probably levelled as a result of misinterpretation of the regulations on graves of war victims. The plot remains under the care of the local church community. Since 1987, the Friedensinitiative Reinbek peace initiative has been organising an annual wreath-laying ceremony on the war victims memorial day (Volkstrauertag).

In the plot there is a stone commemorating the victims of war with an inscription in German:

HERE LIE

36 POLISH AND RUSSIAN

PRISONERS OF WAR

AND CIVILIANS

1940–1948

[translated from Polish]

With the exception of one person, all the Polish citizens whose names are on the burial list died after the war. This applies not only to forced laborers and prisoners of war, but also to the DPs living in the territory of the former Wiesenfeld camp, where from 1941 until the end of the war there were on average 2,700 people, 15 percent of whom were Poles.

The place of burial of people who died before the 8th of May 1945 is not known - nor is the place of interment of the two Poles who were sentenced to death and hanged in the camp, as mentioned by a former prisoner Stanisław Włodarczyk, who described the cruel conditions of the camp during his testimony before the English military commission for war crime investigation.