Kassel Hauptfriedhof — German War Graves Section

Kassel, DE

The **Kassel Hauptfriedhof** (main municipal cemetery) contains a dedicated **Kriegsgräberstätte** (war graves section) maintained by the **Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge**, commemorating German soldiers and civilians who died during the Second World War. The section includes victims of both the **October 1943 bombing raid** — in which approximately 10,000 civilians perished in a single night — and soldiers killed during the **April 1945 battle**. The cemetery reflects the layered commemorative history of a city that suffered catastrophically from Allied bombing before becoming a battlefield. The **Volksturm** soldiers and Wehrmacht garrison troops who fell defending Kassel in April 1945 share the grounds with bombing victims — a juxtaposition typical of many German cities where the same weeks of destruction encompassed both civilian and military death.