German Military Cemetery - Studentenfriedhof

The somberness is very much in evidence at the German military cemetery - Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof - in Langemark. However its powerful simplicity lends a poignant air to this haunting burial ground. Behind the monumental entrance building in pink Weserberg sandstone lie 44.304 soldiers, 24.917 of them in a mass grave. 

Over 3.000 cadets and student volunteers serving in the 22nd -27th Reserve Corps are among the dead. They were killed in October 1914 during futile attempts to break through in the direction of Ypres. Therefore the cemetery is also known as the Studentenfriedhof. 

The sculpture of four bronze soldiers by the Munich sculptor Emil Krieger seem to reflect the sorrow of these bleak statistics. 

Other German military cemeteries of world war 1 in the province of West-Flanders are located in Vladslo (with the world famous sculpture 'The Grieving Parents' from Käthe Kollwitz), Hooglede and Menen.