Marchtrenk War Cemetery

As a memorial to the endless number of war dead, such places - usually referred to as "war cemeteries" or "soldiers' cemeteries" - are still very important today. "Now, Lord, let your servant go in peace, as you said." However, the many people buried here were by no means divorced in peace, but became victims of the war and an inhuman tyranny.
The most important and at the same time everlasting function of the soldiers' or honorary cemeteries or war cemeteries is therefore to keep the memory of this suffering alive and – every generation anew (!) – to remind people of the lasting preservation of peace.

WAR CEMETERYSince Upper Austria was very far from the fronts in World War I, six large prisoner of war camps were built in this federal state. The heathland in Marchtrenk was very suitable for such a camp, i.e. there was hardly any agricultural yield and the gravel soil was very important for hygiene.In this k. u.k. Prisoner of war camps housed a maximum of 35,000 soldiers. The high number of war deaths is explained by the camp hospital. A maximum of around 2,100 sick people could be cared for here. However, this occupancy was never achieved. However, many died from their wounds, epidemics and tuberculosis, which was hardly treatable at the time.The following are buried in the cemetery: 1,393 Italians, 468 Russians, 10 Serbs, 1 Romanian, 18 deceased of unknown nationality. The cemetery is looked after by the “Black Cross”. In the middle there is an obelisk on which the deceased Italians are mainly commemorated. Today the war cemetery is a place of peace and also a stop on the “Marchtrenker Peace Trail”Source: City of Marchtrenk (Press & Public Relations Department, March 9, 2016)

War cemetery