The 6 Best Things to do in , Hauts-de-France

Reviewed By jaywalkingaroundtown - Calgary, Canada

This is a huge German cemetery that is not visited as much. It is well maintain by the locals. The grass is neatly trimmed, crosses are black containing the name of the soldier, rank and born and death dates. Several matures trees will shade the soldiers final resting place. Also, there is an area called collective burial site, where more than 4,000 soldiers were buried together as their identification was not possible. I felt chills during my whole visit. Different from the British/Canadian cemeteries where everything is white and illuminated. The German cemeteries are dim, dark, hidden, enclosed in the middle of tall robust trees. It gives you a feeling of fear and sadness. This place is very thought provoking, as you image that those mens, like their so called "enemies" were someone's son, father and husband. They were people that perhaps did not have a choice in going or not to a horrible war. Now, they are dead and buried alone, far from their loved ones. My son made a beautiful gesture that I will never forget. He saw a huge branch tree that fell on top of one of the graves. He went there and took that huge branch way cleaning the plot. Then, he turned to me and said: "He was just a soldier fighting for his country and he died far from his family. He was a person and he deserves respect. Does not matter which side he was on, he was still a human.