Military War Cemetery Grebbeberg

Geschiedenis

Military War Cemetery Grebbeberg is a graveyard where 799 military personnel and 1 civilian were buried, who died during the invasion of the Netherlands by the Germans in May 1940. The cemetery is located on the Grebbeberg near Rhenen. More than 400 of the military interred here fell during the Battle of the Grebbeberg.HistoryImmediately after the surrender of the Netherlands, a cemetery was laid out at the Grebbeberg for both Dutch and German dead. On 20 May 1940, the cemetery was completed and all the dead were buried. On 27 May all field graves were cleared from the perimeter of the Grebbeberg and the remains were reburied in the cemetery. The cemetery then contained 380 Dutch graves and about 150 German graves. The graves were marked with wooden signs with the name of the military personnel, if known. In 1942, a stone wall was built around the cemetery and all tombstones were replaced with standardized stones. Until that time, many family members or relatives had their own headstone placed on the grave. After the German surrender, all German graves were moved to the Ysselsteyn German war cemetery. Until 1 January 1952 the cemetery was maintained by the Ministry of Defense, which at that date, transferred it to the Netherlands War Graves Foundation.The reconstruction of the history of the National Army Monument Grebbeberg shows how the designer, architect J.J.P. Oud, in 1948–1953 conducted intensive consultations with the client about the meaning and symbolism of the monument.