Berlin, Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde

The Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery (German: Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde) is a cemetery in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. It was the cemetery used for many of Berlin's Socialists, Communists, and anti-fascist fighters.

History

When the cemetery was founded in 1881 it was called the Friedrichsfelde Municipal Cemetery Berlin (German: Berliner Gemeindefriedhof Friedrichsfelde). In 1900, with the burial of Wilhelm Liebknecht, founder of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the cemetery became the resting place for many of the leaders and activists of Germany's social democratic, socialist and communist movements. In 1919, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, co-founders of the Communist Party of Germany were buried there. A 2009 Charité autopsy report however cast doubt on whether Rosa Luxember

The division of Berlin following the Second World War caused the cemetery to be within the borders of East Berlin, where it was used to bury East German (GDR) leaders, such as Walter Ulbricht and Wilhelm Pieck, the first President of the GDR.

Architect and future Bauhaus director, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed Monument to the Revolution in 1926, a 12 m (39 ft) wide and 6 m (20 ft) high red brick monument which the National Socialists destroyed in January 1935.

The monument was replaced in 1951 by the present memorial, the Memorial to the Socialists (German: Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten). This consists of a central porphyry stele or obelisk with the words Die Toten mahnen uns (The dead remind us) surrounded by a semi-circular wall into which are set gravestones and urns. Surrounding the central stone are 10 graves commemorating foremost socialist leaders, namely: Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernst Thälmann, Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, Franz Mehring, John Schehr, Rudolf Breitscheid, Franz Künstler (politician) [de], and Otto Grotewohl.

On one part of the surrounding wall is a set of large tablets recording the names of 327 men and women who gave their lives in the cause of fighting Fascism between 1933 and 1945. Included in the list are Hans Coppi, Hilde Coppi, Heinrich Koenen, Arvid Harnack, Harro Schulze-Boysen, John Sieg, and Ilse Stöbe.

Notable interments

• Friedrich Simon Archenhold (1861–1939)
• Willi Bredel (1901–1964)
• Rudolf Breitscheid (1874–1944)
• Klaus Fuchs (1911–1988), theoretical physicist and atomic spy
• Otto Grotewohl (1894–1964)
• Hugo Haase (1863–1919)
• Adolf Hennecke (1905–1975)
• Katharina Kern (1900–1985)
• Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945)[4]
• Greta Kuckhoff (1902–1981)
• Franz Künstler (politician) [de] (1888–1942)
• Carl Legien (1861–1920)
• Theodor Leipart (1867–1947)
• Karl Liebknecht (1871–1919)
• Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919)
• Hans Marchwitza (1890–1965)
• Franz Mehring (1846–1919)
• Paul Friedrich Meyerheim (1842–1915)
• Erich Mielke (1907–2000)
• Otto Nagel (1894–1967)
• Heinrich Rau (1899–1961)
• Ludwig Renn (1889–1979)
• John Schehr (1896–1934)
• Rudolf Schwarz (1904–1934)
• Paul Singer (1844–1911)
• Ernst Thälmann (1886–1944) (memorial, not a grave)
• Walter Ulbricht (1893–1973)
• Erich Weinert (1890–1953)
• F. C. Weiskopf (1900–1955)
• Friedrich Wolf (1888–1953)
• Konrad Wolf (1925–1982)
• Markus Wolf (1923–2006)
• Ernst Wollweber (1898–1967)
• Walter Womacka (1925–2010)