Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
Encyclopedia
The Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery , also known as the Memorial to the Socialists , is a cemetery
in the borough of Lichtenberg
in Berlin
. When the cemetery was founded in 1881 it was called the Freidrichsfelde Municipal Cemetery Berlin . 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 anti-fascist, social democratic, socialist and communist movements. In 1919, Karl Liebknecht
and Rosa Luxemburg
, co-founders of the Communist Party of Germany
, were buried there. 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 in 1926 a 12 metre wide and 6 metre high red brick Monument to the Revolution which the National Socialists (Nazis) destroyed in 1935. This was replaced in 1951 by the present memorial, the "Memorial to the Socialists". 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
, 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
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in the borough of Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.-Overview:...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. When the cemetery was founded in 1881 it was called the Freidrichsfelde Municipal Cemetery Berlin . In 1900, with the burial of Wilhelm Liebknecht
Wilhelm Liebknecht
Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht was a German social democrat and a principal founder of the SPD. His political career was a pioneering project combining Marxist revolutionary theory with practical, legal political activity...
, founder of the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
, the cemetery became the resting place for many of the leaders and activists of Germany's anti-fascist, social democratic, socialist and communist movements. In 1919, Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
and Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
, co-founders of the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
, were buried there. The division of Berlin following the Second World War caused the cemetery to be within the borders of East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
, where it was used to bury East German (GDR) leaders, such as Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht was a German communist politician. As First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971 , he played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany and later in the early development and...
and Wilhelm Pieck
Wilhelm Pieck
Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck was a German politician and a Communist. In 1949, he became the first President of the German Democratic Republic, an office abolished upon his death. He was succeeded by Walter Ulbricht, who served as Chairman of the Council of States.-Biography:Pieck was born to...
, the first President of the GDR.
Architect and future Bauhaus director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
designed in 1926 a 12 metre wide and 6 metre high red brick Monument to the Revolution which the National Socialists (Nazis) destroyed in 1935. This was replaced in 1951 by the present memorial, the "Memorial to the Socialists". 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
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
, Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
, Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...
, Wilhelm Pieck
Wilhelm Pieck
Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck was a German politician and a Communist. In 1949, he became the first President of the German Democratic Republic, an office abolished upon his death. He was succeeded by Walter Ulbricht, who served as Chairman of the Council of States.-Biography:Pieck was born to...
, Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht was a German communist politician. As First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971 , he played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany and later in the early development and...
, Franz Mehring
Franz Mehring
Franz Erdmann Mehring , was a German publicist, politician and historian.-Early years:Franz Mehring was born 27 February 1846 in Schlawe, Pomerania, the son of a bourgeois family.-Political career:...
, John Schehr, Rudolf Breitscheid
Rudolf Breitscheid
Rudolf Breitscheid, was a leading member of the Social Democratic Party and a delegate to the Reichstag during the era of the Weimar Republic in Germany....
, Franz Künstler
Franz Künstler
Franz Künstler was, at age 107, the last known surviving veteran of the First World War who fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following the death of 110-year-old Ottoman veteran Yakup Satar on April 2, 2008, he was also the last Central Powers veteran of any nationality...
, Otto Grotewohl
Otto Grotewohl
Otto Grotewohl was a German politician and prime minister of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 until his death. According to Roth , "He was a figurehead who led various economic commissions, lobbied the Soviets for increased aid, and conducted foreign policy tours in the attempt to break...
.
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
Hans Coppi
Hans Coppi was a German Red Orchestra resistance fighter against the Third Reich.- Life before World War II :...
, Hilde Coppi
Hilde Coppi
Hilde Coppi was a German resistance fighter against the Third Reich. Together with her husband Hans Coppi, she belonged to the Red Orchestra .- Life :...
, Heinrich Koenen
Heinrich Koenen
Heinrich Koenen was a German engineer, anti-fascist resistance fighter and agent of the Soviet military intelligence service GRU....
, Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack was a German jurist, economist, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany.- Early years :...
, Harro Schulze-Boysen
Harro Schulze-Boysen
Heinz Harro Max Wilhelm Georg Schulze-Boysen was a German officer, commentator, and German Resistance fighter against German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi régime.- Early life :...
, John Sieg
John Sieg
John Sieg was a railroad worker and journalist who publicized Nazi atrocities through the underground Communist press and fought against National Socialism in the German Resistance. He was a key member of the Red Orchestra....
and Ilse Stöbe
Ilse Stöbe
Ilse Stöbe was a German journalist and anti-Nazi resistance fighter.Ilse Stöbe grew up in a working class home in Berlin...
Notable interments
- Willi BredelWilli BredelWilli Bredel was a German writer and president of the Akademie der Künste. Born in Hamburg, he was a pioneer of socialist realist literature....
(1901-1964) - Rudolf BreitscheidRudolf BreitscheidRudolf Breitscheid, was a leading member of the Social Democratic Party and a delegate to the Reichstag during the era of the Weimar Republic in Germany....
(1874-1944) - Otto GrotewohlOtto GrotewohlOtto Grotewohl was a German politician and prime minister of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 until his death. According to Roth , "He was a figurehead who led various economic commissions, lobbied the Soviets for increased aid, and conducted foreign policy tours in the attempt to break...
(1894-1964) - Hugo HaaseHugo HaaseHugo Haase was a German politician, jurist and pacifist.-Biography:Haase was born in Allenstein , Province of Prussia, the son of Jewish shoemaker and small businessman, Nathan Haase, and Pauline née Anker. He studied law in Königsberg and established himself as a lawyer...
(1863-1919) - Käthe KollwitzKäthe KollwitzKäthe Kollwitz was a German painter, printmaker, and sculptor whose work offered an eloquent and often searing account of the human condition in the first half of the 20th century...
(1867-1945) - Franz Künstler (1888-1942)
- Carl LegienCarl LegienCarl Legien was a German unionist, moderate Social Democratic politician and first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions.- Biography :...
(1861-1920) - Theodor Leipart (1867-1947)
- Franz MehringFranz MehringFranz Erdmann Mehring , was a German publicist, politician and historian.-Early years:Franz Mehring was born 27 February 1846 in Schlawe, Pomerania, the son of a bourgeois family.-Political career:...
(1846-1919) - Paul Meyerheim (1842-1915)
- Erich MielkeErich MielkeErich Fritz Emil Mielke was a German communist politician and Minister of State Security—and as such head of the Stasi —of the German Democratic Republic between 1957 and 1989. Mielke spent more than a decade as an operative of the NKVD during the rule of Joseph Stalin...
(1907–2000) - Otto Nagel (1894-1967)
- Heinrich RauHeinrich RauHeinrich Gottlob "Heiner" Rau was a German communist politician during the time of the Weimar Republic; subsequently, during the Spanish Civil War, a leading member of the International Brigades and after World War II an East German statesman.Rau grew up in a suburb of Stuttgart, where he early...
(1899-1961) - John Schehr (1896-1934)
- Paul SingerPaul Singer (politician)Paul Singer was a leading supporter and representative of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.- Literature :...
(1844-1911) - Ernst ThälmannErnst ThälmannErnst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...
(1886-1944) (memorial, not a grave) - Erich WeinertErich WeinertErich Bernhard Gustav Weinert was a German Communist writer and a member of the Communist Party of Germany .-Biography:...
(1890-1953) - F. C. Weiskopf (1900-1955)
- Friedrich Wolf (1888-1953)
- Konrad WolfKonrad WolfKonrad Wolf was an East German film director, son of Friedrich Wolf, brother of Markus Wolf....
(1925-1982) - Markus WolfMarkus WolfMarkus Johannes "Mischa" Wolf was head of the General Intelligence Administration , the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security . He was the MfS's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War...
(1923-2006) - Ernst WollweberErnst WollweberErnst Friedrich Wollweber was Minister of State Security of the German Democratic Republic from 1953 to 1957.-Biography:...
(1898-1967)