What whispers linger among these stones? They tell tales of Essen’s S\u00fcdwestfriedhof. It is not just a burial ground but a significant landmark.
Welcome to the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof. It is Essen’s second-largest cemetery. Covering 37.27 hectares, it holds over 33,000 graves. More people rest here than live in Fulerum. This cemetery offers more than a final resting place. It offers a journey through Essen’s past.
Essen needed a new central cemetery. Rapidly growing population made it necessary. Industrialization drew workers. They came for jobs in mining and steel. The cemetery was designed as a park. Old stone signs point to places within it. These signs were also used in the Grugapark.
Robert Schmidt planned the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof. He ensured it could expand. The city bought the land in 1910. It belonged to farmer Oberscheidt. His farm covered 28 hectares. Parts of the Oberscheidt farm served as a depot. They were torn down in 1975.
Originally, it was planned as a baroque forest cemetery. World War I stopped this plan. Instead, a military cemetery section honored fallen soldiers. A wooden building served until the 1920s. Then, permanent buildings replaced it. A birch grove became an urn grove.
The central north-south axis is a linden avenue. It was Fulerumer Strasse. In 1914, it moved west to make way for the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof. Rudolf Korte helped design the new S\u00fcdwestfriedhof.
Since 1991, the brick buildings have been protected. They feature dark clinker bricks. These buildings include a hall and administrative offices. They surround a courtyard. The main entrance opens to Fulerumer Strasse. Ernst Bode designed these buildings.
The first phase built gate buildings. These had a porter’s room. Buildings for florists, sculptors, offices, and apartments were built. Costs totaled around 106,000 Reichsmark. The main cemetery building cost 901,000 Reichsmark. The hall was built between 1927 and 1929.
Will Lammert created art for the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof. He lived on Margarethenh\u00f6he. Lammert made Christian art. This included portal doors and 16 apostles. He also made a five-meter sculpture called Mother Earth. The Nazis labeled his art degenerate. They removed and destroyed it. Lammert was a communist. His wife was Jewish. Only the Segnende Christus remains today. It was too large to remove.
During Nazi rule, the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof became the main cemetery of Gau Essen. In 1938-1939, they built the Gauehrenmal of the NSDAP. Emil Fahrenkamp designed it. Heinrich Himmler attended Heinrich Unger’s reburial here in 1939. Unger was an NSDAP politician. He died in street fights. After World War II, the Allies destroyed the Gauehrenmal.
The S\u00fcdwestfriedhof holds graves of 2,878 war victims and victims of Nazism. Joseph Enseling’s sculpture Trauer stands there. It bears the inscription: “Memorial of the City of Essen for the Victims of War and Violence.”
The graves of Otto Burau and Franz Dinnendahl are here. Also Victor Niemeyer, Wilhelm Holle, and Heinz Renner. These graves are city honors. Architect Georg Metzendorf is buried here too. The S\u00fcdwestfriedhof is a place of somber reflection.
Today, the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof offers both history and nature. The Biologische Station Westliches Ruhrgebiet found 349 wild plant species here. This includes rare plants. These include Nelken-Haferchmiele and Rippenfarn.
So, as you wander through the S\u00fcdwestfriedhof, remember it is more than a cemetery. It is a park. It is a nature preserve. It is a monument to Essen’s complex past.