Marine-Ehrenmal Laboe

Laboe, DE

The Marine-Ehrenmal (German Naval Memorial) at Laboe on the Kiel Fjord is Germany's foremost naval war memorial, commemorating the sailors of the Imperial German Navy who fell in the First World War and those of the **Kriegsmarine** who died in the Second. The memorial tower — an 85-metre structure designed by architect Gustav Munzer and inaugurated in 1936 — commands panoramic views over the Kiel Fjord, through which the German fleet passed on its wartime deployments. The adjacent **U-995**, a surviving **Type VIIC submarine**, has been open to visitors since 1972 and offers one of the most authentic encounters with a WWII U-boat available anywhere. The memorial commemorates approximately **35,000 U-boat crew members** who died in the Second World War — representing a casualty rate of roughly **75% of all Kriegsmarine submarine personnel**, the highest loss rate of any military branch on any side during the war. The site provides essential context for understanding the human cost of the **Battle of the Atlantic** from the German perspective. A museum building contains model ships, navigation instruments, and documentation of German naval operations from 1914 to 1945.