German war graves in Nazareth

© Goethe-Institut

Every year in November, on the occasion of Remembrance Day, the German Embassy invites people to an act of remembrance at the German Military Cemetery in Nazareth. The guests usually include state and church representatives, as well as military attachés from other countries. An ecumenical service is also held then.

To prevent any misunderstandings, German diplomats emphasise the profound significance of a gathering like this: it isn’t a day to commemorate heroes, they explicitly state, it’s about remembering the suffering that war causes everywhere in the world. In particular the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, of course.

© Goethe-Institut

261 German soldiers are buried in Nazareth. The cemetery, which is operated by the German War Graves Commission, has been there since the mid 1930s. Today German volunteers help to maintain it.

The war dead fought on the side of the allied Ottoman Empire in the First World War and were killed in Palestine and Transjordan. Most of these were members of the Royal Bavarian Air Force troops. They were stationed in Oberschleißheim on 20th July 1917 and then relocated to the war zone of Palestine on 25th August. Their deployment against the British and Arabs primarily served to carry out aerial reconnaissance and to protect the Hedjaz Railway – which ran from Damascus to Medina.

After the surrender of Jerusalem (where there are also German war graves) in December 1917, the German troop headquarters was relocated to Nazareth, until the city was captured by the British on 20^th September 1918.