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»Deutsche Version • Home • Travelogues • Germany • Hamburg • Ohlsdorf Cemetery
Ohlsdorf Cemetery
- Ohlsdorf Cemetery
[www.friedhof-hamburg.de/ohlsdorf/]
Nov to Mar 8:00 – 18:00 hrs
An attraction of a different kind: Ohlsdorf Cemetery. It is the largest central cemetery, the oldest “garden cemetery” in Europe and the second largest graveyard of the world.
[12 Jan 2004] — Ohlsdorf Cemetery is a real giant – spanning a tremendous area of 400 hectares (988 acres). It encompasses 400,000 graves (including 52,000 graves of war victims), 13 chapels and 7 mausolea.
Many prominent Germans, as for instance the actors Hans Albers und Willi Fritsch, were buried here. Particularly interesting are the artistic tombs of the 19th and 20th century.
Besides the cemetery is a park in the English style. Its broad avenues and romantic paths, with trees, lawns and rhododendron invite to go for a stroll.
The section at the main entrance at Fuhlsbüttler Straße was laid out in 1879 by Horticulture Director Wilhelm Cordes (1840 – 1917). The Eastern enlargement to Brahmfelder Chaussee (1914 – 1920) was created by his successor Otto Linne (1869 – 1937). Both sections include numerous memorial and honorary cemeteries: The memorial in honour of concentration camp victims is situated right at the entrance, near the crematorium (1930 – 32). The honorary grove of the resistance fighters carries the urns of numerous communist Nazi opponents. 37,000 victims of the bombing of World War II rest under four grass hills nearby Chapel 8. Many of the 312 victims of the flood disaster in 1962 were buried close to Chapel 7.
And close by is the 1923-based seaman’s cemetery for homeless German sailors.
One of the most beautiful places of the cemetery is the woodland at the northern part of the site and along the alley Ostring. There, under tall trees, you find mausoleums and family graves, in which senators, wealthy industrialist and ship owners of the Hanseatic City were buried.
A neo-classicistic Greek temple – similar to the style of their house in »Klein Flottbek – is the last resting place of Senators Jenisch. A sleeping lion rests in front of the tomb of the Hagenbeck family, the founders of »Hagenbeck’s Zoo in Hamburg-Stellingen.
The premises of the cemetery also include a Jewish cemetery, which is located at Ilandkoppel at the south-western part of the area. It was created in 1883, after the capacities of the old Jewish cemeteries in the inner city ran low.
It survived the desecration and destruction of war for the most part.
Thanks to the support of courageous Hamburgers several graves from the cemeteries in Ottensen and Grindel that the Nazis left unharmed were transferred here from 1937 to 1941. Among them were many baroque and classicistic gravestones that were relocated to the southeast part of the Jewish cemetery.
East of the synagogue a memorial to the victims of the Nazi terror was erected in 1951.
A road network of 18 km (11 mi) runs through the cemetery, that allows entering the huge complex by car. Even some bus routes of the public transport are on service at Ohlsdorf Cemetery.
