Oldenburg New Cemetery
Oldenburg - Neuer Ev.-Luth. Friedhof (info: Volksbund)
- 452 dead from both World Wars in the fields of honour, which are centrally located in the cemetery and can be easily found thanks to the associated high cross. There are also smaller graves, mainly Russian prisoners of war from WWI and German soldiers from WWI
- 150 dead soldiers from WWI, as well as 7 Russian prisoners of war. Also several airship pilots.
- 302 dead Oldenburg civilians and military personnel from WWI. Foreign members of German military units (Latvians, Hungarians, Russians), as well as 25 displaced persons who died after the end of the war. Refugees are also buried in the fields of honour.
- Grave field with over 50 patients from the Gertrudenheim in Blankenburg Monastery.
During the Nazi era, the institution was closed and the patients were transferred to Wehnen, where there was also a "mental asylum". The property was used by the SA as an "auxiliary service camp of the SA labor service" for young unemployed people.
In 1937, the state-run Oldenburg Gertrudenheim was transferred to Blankenburg Monastery. On September 19, 1941, the home was evacuated as part of the Nazi "euthanasia" program "Action T4" and its 253 residents, including psychiatric patients and children with behavioral problems, were mostly taken to the "Kutzenberg Monastery Sanatorium and Nursing Home" in the Lichtenfels district. Most of these patients died, including around 80 children.
Officially designated as a "special hospital" and alternative hospital for patients from bomb-damaged hospitals and homes, Blankenburg is said to have served as an interim facility as part of "Operation Brandt" in 1943. According to historian Ingo Harms, targeted killings of mentally disabled children through starvation and neglect as well as "euthanasia" crimes and forced sterilization took place in Blankenburg.
