Newsletter

Weiler Wissembourg French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Wissembourg

 

The French war cemetery of Weiler at Wissembourg gathers together the remains of soldiers who died for France while in captivity during the occupation of the Vosges between 1914 and 1918. Established by the German army, on the initiative of the Mayor of Wissembourg, for burying the remains of Russian and French prisoners of war held at the Wissembourg camp, it was enlarged in 1924 to hold the bodies of thirty French soldiers who also died in captivity in Villé. Many are infantrymen and Spahis. In 2010, this commemorative site was recognised as a national war cemetery where in total the remains of 221 Russian prisoners, including 42 placed in ossuaries, nine Italians placed in an ossuary, and thirty Frenchmen were laid to rest. Alongside the prisoners of the Great War, three Polish prisoners captured during World War II are also buried here, one of them an unknown soldier.

During the war, 3.4 million Russian soldiers were captured, of which 1.5 million were held prisoner in Germany. In the spring of 1915, the German authorities agreed the assignment of prisoners of war to the war kommandos to alleviate labour shortages. In Alsace, several thousand Russian prisoners were made to work on drainage, wood cutting, road building, as well as agriculture.

Working conditions were hard and the mortality rate among these men is estimated at 7.3%. During the war, almost 100,000 prisoners of war perished in Germany.

In addition, through agreements between France and Russia, some Russians joined the Western Front to supplement the ranks of the French army, who suffered significant losses in 1915. In 1916, four Russian elite brigades were formed, containing 45,000 men in total. Two were sent to Macedonia on the Salonica front, while the 1st and 3rd Brigade were deployed in Champagne, where they fought their first battles in 1917. With the political tensions and the Russian revolution, these unites were taken off the front lines. Some mutinied and were imprisoned in Algeria. Others formed the Russian Legion to continue fighting alongside France. At the end of the war, this battalion, which only had 1,600 men, was appointed the Russian Legion of Honour.

In 1916, in the village of Weiler, located east of Wissembourg, the Germans established a prison camp where daily life was of the most basic standard.  Some barracks and a hospital were also built to house the Russian prisoners captured in particular on the Western Front. The Weiler national war cemetery is now the last remaining evidence of the existence of this camp, about which few records exist.

 

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • La nécropole nationale de Weiler. © ECPAD

  • Soldats français progressant dans un champ, été 1914. © Collection particulière - FBN - DR

  • Carte de propagande montrant un officier français recueillant une alsacienne après les premiers combats de l'été 1914. © Collection particulière - FBN - DR

  • Prisonniers russes reconnaissables à leur casquette à visière ornée d'une cocarde, posant devant la choucrouterie d'Edmond Stoeffler, 1917. © Collection Léon Schahl

  • Entrée des troupes françaises à Wissembourg, décembre 1918. Discours du Général Gérard devant le monument du général Abel Douay, tué sur le plateau de Geisberg lors de la guerre de 1870. © Collections BDIC

  • Le 51e RI traverse l’ancienne frontière alsacienne à Wissembourg pour aller occuper la Bavière rhénane, décembre 1918. © Collections BDIC

  • Soldats français traversant la frontière allemande pour occuper la Rhénanie, décembre 1918. © Collections BDIC

  • > Return to results

    Practical information

    Address

    Wissembourg
    Au nord de Haguenau, D 3

    Weekly opening hours

    Visites libres toute l’année

    Summary

    Eléments remarquables

    Monument aux morts 1914-1918

    Read more

    Read more

    Agence de développement touristique du Bas-Rhin

    4, rue Bartisch

    67100 Strasbourg

    Tél. : 03 88 15 45 88

    Accéder au site internet