The memorial stone of the German military cemetery
of Hosingen
Copyright Text & Piictures: Yves Rasqui
The remains of 165 soldiers, 60 of whom had fallen in Hosingen, were thus interred in the mass grave, which had been established on municipal land at the site known as “Um Weescheed.”
Pursuant to an agreement between the Luxembourg government and the German War Graves Commission, all German soldiers’ graves on Luxembourg soil were exhumed starting in 1952, and the remains were transferred to the central German military cemetery in Sandweiler. This was also the case in Hosingen, where, after the reburial work was completed, the memorial stone at the mass grave was simply pushed into the pit along with leftover ammunition and other fill material, so that nothing remained visible of the burial site and it eventually fell into oblivion.
Years later, the “Um Weescheed” property was sold as building land. During historical research in the 1990s, the owner at the time spoke of the former mass grave, which, according to villagers, was said to be located in his garden. Following the owner’s death, the municipality of Parc Hosingen finally had the opportunity in February 2021 to search the site for the former burial ground in collaboration with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal of the Luxembourgish Army. In the process, not only were additional human bones and remnants of uniforms recovered, but also the old, yet well-preserved memorial stone for the German prisoners of war, which was then permanently installed in 2026 as part of the “Memorial Parc Housen” — serving as a reminder of the difficult war years in the Oesling region.
