The children’s grave on the north side of St. John’s church has a painful history: it was created in 1944 / 1945 and is the final resting place of infants from the Burgkirchen so-called “foreigners’ children’s nursing home”. Forced laborers from Eastern Europe, mainly from Poland and the Ukraine, had to give birth to their children there and return to their jobs shortly after. The care and nursing of the babies in the unheated barracks was extremely poor and hygienic conditions were catastrophic, meaning that many children only lived for a few days or weeks. Karl Fürstberger, the local priest at the time, buried the children with dignity in the northern part of the cemetery. He recorded 152 names in the parish’s register of deaths. As early as 1953, the burial ground was laid out in its current form and designed as a memorial.
The children’s grave
was designed as a monument in 1953 and solemnly consecrated on November 8 of the same year by Pastor Georg Bergmann, with numerous participants from the parish community. The grave’s angel figure is made of Franconian limestone and was produced by a company in Passau.
But soon the children’s grave was forgotten again. It was not until 1961 that the local newspaper reported once more on the fate of the deceded children. Three schoolgirls planted and tended the grave in 1974. In 1985 a local group of women from the political party SPD began maintaining the grave. Since 1988 an annual memorial service is being held. Many groups and institutions, especially many young people, have helped to shape the commemoration over the years.
In 2016, the municipality of Burgkirchen took over the care, and in 2017 our society’s local Burgkirchen group “Kindergrab” was founded and is now repsonsible for the grave care.
