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| Waldfriedhof Dahlem | |
|---|---|
| Name | Waldfriedhof Dahlem |
| Established | 1933 |
| Country | Germany |
| Location | Berlin-Dahlem |
| Type | public |
| Owner | Land Berlin |
Waldfriedhof Dahlem Waldfriedhof Dahlem is a historic cemetery in Berlin-Dahlem notable for its interments of scientists, politicians, artists, and military figures. The site has connections to institutions such as the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Max Planck Society, the Free University of Berlin, the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and the German Resistance movement. It remains a place of commemoration for figures associated with the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the Cold War, and reunified Germany.
The cemetery opened in 1933 during the era of the Weimar Republic transition to the Third Reich and reflects burial practices influenced by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, the City of Berlin, and architectural trends promoted by the Bauhaus and the Deutsche Werkbund. During World War II the grounds received burials connected to the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, and civilian victims from the Bombing of Berlin in World War II, and postwar interments include figures from the Bundesrepublik Deutschland and the German Democratic Republic. The cemetery's administration worked with institutions such as the Berlin Senate, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, and university bodies including the Kaiser Wilhelm Society successor, the Max Planck Society, to preserve graves of recipients of awards like the Nobel Prize, the Pour le Mérite (civil class), and the Iron Cross. Commemorations held at the site have involved the Federal President of Germany, the Bundestag, the Berlin State Parliament, and civic groups linked to the German Red Cross and the Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas.
The cemetery's plan was influenced by designers associated with the Garden City movement, the Tiefbauamt Berlin, and landscape architects who collaborated with Bauhaus alumni; design elements reference the Neue Sachlichkeit aesthetic and monumentalism seen in works by architects from the Reichsbank and municipal projects by the Bauverwaltung. Pathways and plots align with sightlines toward nearby institutions such as the Botanical Garden, Berlin, the Dahlem Garden Museum, the Ethnological Museum, Berlin, and the Museum of Asian Art. Funerary art on site includes sculptural works by artists connected to the Prussian Academy of Arts, commissions linked to the National Socialists era, and later installations by sculptors affiliated with the Akademie der Künste and the German Artists' Association. The chapel and entrance structures show material and compositional affinities with projects from the Reconstruction of Berlin and conservation efforts by the Monument Protection Office of Berlin.
The cemetery contains graves of scholars and intellectuals associated with the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Free University of Berlin, the Max Planck Society, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, including recipients of the Nobel Prize and members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Interred politicians and statesmen include figures who served in the Weimar Republic, the Bundestag, and postwar cabinets, with ties to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the Free Democratic Party (Germany). Military and resistance figures buried there include individuals linked to the July 20 plot, the German Resistance, and veterans of the First World War and Second World War. Artists and cultural figures include actors connected to the Deutsches Theater, directors from the Babelsberg Studios, composers who worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, and painters associated with the Berlin Secession and the New Objectivity movement. Scientists interred at the site have associations with laboratories of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, and faculties of the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Within the grounds are memorials dedicated to victims of the Bombing of Berlin in World War II, plaques commemorating participants in the German Resistance and the July 20 plot, and monuments acknowledging scholars expelled under the Nuremberg Laws and émigrés to the United States and the United Kingdom. Collective memorials honor groups connected to the Holocaust, veterans of the First World War, and civilians from the Berlin Airlift. Commemorative events at these monuments have involved delegations from the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, the United States Embassy in Berlin, the British Embassy Berlin, and veterans' associations such as the Bund Deutscher Offiziere and cultural institutions including the Goethe-Institut.
The cemetery's arboreal composition includes specimen trees typical of Berlin parklands, with plantings coordinated with the Botanical Garden, Berlin and urban ecology projects run by the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection. Habitat patches provide for avian species monitored by the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland and entomological surveys conducted by researchers linked to the Free University of Berlin Department of Biology. Conservation of the landscape has involved collaboration with the Monument Protection Office of Berlin and environmental NGOs such as the NABU and the BUND to balance heritage preservation with biodiversity goals consistent with EU directives like the Habitat Directive.
The cemetery is a locus for memorial ceremonies involving the Federal President of Germany, the Bundestag, university memorial services from the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin, and anniversaries observed by organizations such as the Stiftung Topography of Terror and the German Historical Museum. Cultural events have included quiet concerts with performers from the Berlin Philharmonic, readings by members of the Deutscher Bühnenverein, and academic symposia hosted by the Max Planck Society and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The site's presence in biographies, documentary films by broadcasters like Deutsche Welle and ZDF, and coverage in publications such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Der Tagesspiegel underscores its role in Berlin's commemorative landscape.
Category:Cemeteries in Berlin Category:Buildings and structures in Steglitz-Zehlendorf