Vladslo German War Cemetery

VLADSO was originally a GERMAN REFERENCE POST (a first aid post)
When you enter this cemetery, it seems small in size, but more than 25,600 fallen German soldiers have been given their final resting place here in a Kamaraden grave.
A German dressing station was originally set up on this site after the First Battle of the Yser. As a result, the first dead were buried here as early as October 1914. By the end of the war, the cemetery counted more than 3000 dead.
After the war, many German cemeteries scattered behind the front line were brought together into 4 collective cemeteries. Vladso is one of them.
The cemetery is overlooked by the “Mourning Parents”, created by Käthe Kollwitz. They look at the comrades grave in which their 18 year old son Peter Kollwitz is buried, I thought on the 9th row. Peter was killed in action on October 23, 1914.
Yet another place to pause. A war takes on a face in this arrangement and evokes feelings about loved ones who have never returned…. touching.

Iconic sculpture group designed by the German artist Käthe Kollwitz and carved in bluestone by August Rhades (father figure) and Fritz Diederich (mother figure).Peter Kollwitz, son of Käthe and her husband Karl, had voluntarily enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War. He fell near Esen in the night of 23 to 24 October and was buried on the spot by his comrades. His parents did not hear the news until a month later.
As early as December 1914, Kollwitz conceived the plan to create a memorial for her son. Still, it would be many years before she would complete Grieving Parents. She herself gave the work the title Die Eltern.
In July 1932, the statues were placed on the German cemetery on the Roggeveld near Esen, where Peter Kollwitz was originally buried. In 1956, that cemetery was cleared, and the sculpture group was moved to Vladslo together with the remains. The statues were placed at the back of the cemetery

Vladslo German war cemetery is about three kilometres north east of Vladslo, near Diksmuide, Belgium. Established during World War I, the cemetery originally held 3,233 wartime burials.[1] In 1956, burials from many smaller surrounding cemeteries were concentrated in Vladslo, and it now contains the remains of 25,644 soldiers.[1] Each stone bears the name of twenty soldiers, with just their name, rank, and date of death specified.