Vladslo German Cemetery

The German military cemetery at Vladslo, near Diksmuide in north west Belgium was the site of a First World War rest area behind German lines and was selected as one of the four locations where remains of German casualties in the Belgian sector of the Front have been concentrated. Until the late 1950s there had been up to 128 smaller cemeteries; immediately after the First World War there had apparently been over 650.

This site is notable for the presence of the two Käthe Kollwitz statues, the ‘Grieving Parents’. The Kollwitz’ son Peter, who was killed in the first months of the War, had been buried in the cemetery at Roogeveld, just five miles to the south. His remains, with those of 1,538 comrades, were moved to Vladslo in 1956. With him came his mother’s sculpture (first installed at Roogeveld in 1932); the statues which now overlook the cemetery. His father looks down on the flat granite grave marker which bears Peter’s name, rank and date of death.