I had the good fortune to be at this site on the late afternoon of November 1, 2005 -
All Saints Day. Not only did I catch the cemetery in the fading glow of a beautiful
fall day, perfect for the somber mood, but the site was "active". There was a memorial
service going on and there were lots of fresh candles and flowers.
The military cemetery to the fallen of World War Two and the memeorial ensemble are
only a short distance to the right of the gate of the cemetery. There is a section
set aside, across the path from what used to be the morgue, but it is not blocked
off from the rest of the cemetery with fences or hedges...
...the markers just appear in the trees to the right. Under the conditions I found - the
long shadows, the carpet of leaves, the fading light, and the unexpected appearance
of the graves, it was almost spooky.
There were no names on the pairs of crosses, which served only for emotive effect.
The names and dates of the fallen were on small, brick-sized stones in rows along
the pathways.
There were more graves than I had expected. I estimated over 300 by counting rows of
stones.
Here is how the cemetery looked on the morning of 21 January, 2006.
Some few of the fallen had visitors and a special, personal remembrance that day.
While others are forgotten or remembered from some other place. This is a good
example of the kinds of function these places serve.
Here is a somewhat less elaborate recognition of a visit to a particular stone.
A small crowd had gathered for an All Saints Day remembrance at the far end of the
field of grave markers.
There was a priest, there were several nuns and acolytes, and 20-30 mostly elderly
people. They sang a final song and, when the crowd broke up, so did the mood of
solemnity. They immediately began to talk with each other, faces smiling.
The memorial ensemble bears no immediately recognizeable writing, but the three
crosses speak symbolically of Golgotha.
The wreath is personally dedicated and reads,
Manfred and Freia and Family, in loving memory. The inscription on the
stone is illegible below the sea of flowers and candles.
This is a picture of the same spot on the morning of January 22, 2006. The private, family
wreath had been put gently aside and the city wreath placed in the center. The text on the
stone was now legible: Honor for the dead / a warning for us (Den Toten zu Ehr / Uns zur Mahnung).
On the other side of the path, there are four (again nameless) crosses and 12 stones
with names, birth dates and death dates of men and women.
Most of the names recorded there died on 15 January, 1945. The rest died in the
following few weeks. The sign at the main gate of the cemetery had indicated an
"Air Raid Memorial" at approximately this location, so I assume these are 12 people
in Tuebingen killed in a January bombing. That was probably the attack on the freight
train station in which some houses were also hit and civilians killed. There were
other smaller air attacks on Tübingen as well, but casualties were very low.
The dead included several women. I asked one of the eldest-looking visitors from
the ceremony if she had been in Tuebingen in January of 1945. She had. But she
couldn't tell me what had happened on the 15th because she, "had been working in a
bank and had a sick sister to care for". I would imagine that even people in banks
would remember an air raid.
This plaque hangs on the wall on the back of the structure that forms the entry gate to
the cemetery. It is only visible when walking back toward the gate from the military
section of the cemetery. (Photo: 21 January, 2006)
It reads, Regiment 35 / For our fallen and missing comrades / Fearless and loyal.
The wreath reads, Your comrades in loyal remembrance. The coat of arms represents
the German province/state of Wuerttemberg. (Photo: 21 January, 2006)
Not surprisingly, I suppose, the priest also showed little interest in specific
incidents related to the memorial and cemetery. When I asked him about it all, he
did not know of the air raid memorial and emphasized that they were there to
remember all the dead. He seemed uninterested in my questioning attempts to get
him to differentiate the information he gave me between the military cemetery, the
memorial crosses, the air raid section, etc. For him, true to the holiday, it was
about all the dead.