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War graves, St Barbara Cemetery, Utrecht

As today is Dodenherdenking (remembrance day) in The Netherlands, let’s visit some war graves. War is pretty much synonymous with World War II, here, and the war grave section in the cemeteries in Utrecht we will visit today are indeed for people who perished in World War II.

The first photos, above and below, are from St. Barbara cemetery in Utrecht. The war grave section is near the entrance. It consists of a flagstaff, a monument, a group of head stones, and a plaque. On days like today, the flag hangs half-staff, but most of the time, the flagstaff is not used. The monument is a cross with the text Zij die vielen 1940-1945 (Those who fell 1940-1945). The plaque commemorates members of the K.A.B. (Katholieke Arbeiders Beweging, Catholic Labour Movement), division Utrecht, who died in the war. Not all of them are actually buried here. The headstones include grave markers for soldiers who died in the first days of the war, I am not sure if there are also others.

Memorial plaque, War graves, St Barbara Cemetery, Utrecht

Memorial plaque

War graves, St Barbara Cemetery, Utrecht

War graves, St Barbara Cemetery, Utrecht

The three photos below were taken on a cold December morning in the Tolsteeg cemetery, also in Utrecht. We see a monument, created by Jan van Luijn and unveiled in 1947 by Prince Bernhard. At the central part of the monument, below the statue, is a short poem by Ina Boudier-Bakker. At the front of the monument are the headstones. The people buried here are mostly members of the resistance movement. They died in the last days of the war, and many even after the official end of the war.

War graves and memorial, Tolsteeg Cemetery, Utrecht

War graves and memorial, Tolsteeg Cemetery, Utrecht

War graves and memorial, Tolsteeg Cemetery, Utrecht

War graves and memorial

War graves and memorial, Tolsteeg Cemetery, Utrecht

War memorial

Photos by the author, Tolsteeg and St. Barbara cemeteries, December 2008. As always, click on the photos to enlarge. These and other photos of the cemeteries visited for this blog are also posted to flickr.

This article is submitted to the June edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival. The topic of this edition is Veteran’s Memorials.