Can you hear the echoes of history whispering through the trees here at St. Thomas-Friedhof? This is no ordinary resting place. It holds stories of resilience, community, and even resistance amid dark times.
St. Thomas-Friedhof is more than a cemetery. It is a green lung in the middle of Berlin-Neukölln. It offers a place of peace and reflection in the bustling city.
Let’s step back in time to the years 1942 to 1945. Imagine this very ground under a different shadow. During this time, 39 Protestant and 3 Catholic church communities joined forces. They operated a camp here to organize forced labor on church-owned cemeteries. This was the Kirchliches Friedhoflager St. Thomas.
These communities formed an “Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die ausländischen Arbeiter auf Berliner Friedhöfen”. This translates to “Working Group for Foreign Workers on Berlin Cemeteries.” The residents of this camp were often minors. They had been deported from areas of the former Soviet Union occupied by the Wehrmacht.
These young souls had to perform hard labor throughout the city under deplorable conditions. They worked until the Soviet Army liberated them. The St. Thomas-Friedhof bears witness to their suffering.
Since 2000, reconciliation and remembrance efforts have been underway here. They are under the guidance of the Generalsuperintendentur Berlin. The aim is to remember the injustice. The church bears responsibility for this injustice. The participating church communities and the Landeskirchliches Archiv are involved. Many volunteers contribute to this important work.
They have created a permanent exhibition. An annual memorial service takes place. Archaeological digs in 2013, 2014, and 2018 unearthed important finds. These digs were in cooperation with the Berliner Landesdenkmalamt. The St. Thomas-Friedhof is the only known church-operated forced labor camp memorial site. It has overarching significance for remembering forced labor within the church and its diaconal institutions. The former camp location is currently being expanded into a memorial site.
The old and now listed part of St. Thomas-Friedhof was created in 1865. It was designed as an Alleequartierfriedhof. The cemetery chapel built in 1870 is also a protected monument.
Among the notable figures buried here are Robert Zelle, Reinhold Franz Habisch, and Wilhelm Wagner. All three are listed as honorary graves of the State of Berlin. St. Thomas-Friedhof also contains many war graves. Sammelgräber hold the remains of victims from both World Wars. A former flower pavilion now houses an exhibition. It tells the story of Berlin’s church communities during World War II. Also of note is the burial ground of the Alevitische Gemeinde zu Berlin e.V.
St. Thomas-Friedhof’s old section features a long central avenue. It is planted with plane trees and yew hedges. Crossing avenues, lined with spruce and linden trees, connect to other cemeteries. These include Luisenstadt-Kirchhof II and St. Michael-Kirchhof I.
Today, St. Thomas-Friedhof stands as a place of remembrance and reconciliation. It reminds us of the importance of standing up against injustice. The stories buried within its grounds urge us to create a more compassionate world. As we leave this place, let’s carry forward the lessons learned here at St. Thomas-Friedhof.