Roggeveld

This field with its two rows of trees and its concrete boundary posts marks what was once the site of the German military cemetery at Roggeveld. It was also the location of a German field hospital - 'feldlazaret' - during the battles that were fought near here in October 1914.

It was here that the young Peter Kollwitz was buried after he was killed near Zarren. It was also here that the statue group 'The Grieving Parents', created by his mother, Käthe Kollwitz, originally stood, before being moved to the German military cemetery at Vladslo (some 10 kilometres away).

By the end of the war, there were German burial grounds spread across the length and breadth of Belgium. A first regrouping was carried out during the 1930s, but in 1956 it was decided to concentrate all the remaining sites into four large cemeteries, two of which are close to here - at Vladslo and Langemark.

The photograph gives an idea of what this meadow looked like in 1956.

Remember also to visit the Käthe Kollwitz Tower in the village of Koekelare.

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