This August the 23rd I finally had the occasion to travel to Dessau for a visit of the "Ehrenfriedhof" where Oswald Boelcke had been put to rest on November 2, 1916. Below is a collection of photos that I made of the Memorial. The cemetery in itself is in good condition but especially the Boelcke Memorial and his sarcophagus are in urgent need of restoration as you can see on the photos below. Who knows what happened to the memorial through the past century... Old photographs, like the one below that I took from the book "Boelcke - der Mensch, der Flieger, der Führer der deutschen Jagdfliegerei" clearly show the sarcophagus being decorated with a stone eagle which is now completely missing. Who removed it? The Russians as, they plundered the conquered German territory after WWII, or the German Communists of the old GDR? What happened to it? And the most important question of all: Do the mortal remains of Oswald Boelcke still rest in this sarcophagus or had they been removed maybe by Russian or German Communists in the time between 1945 and 1989?

Gaston Graf, webmaster

The Boelcke Memorial, probably in the early 1930s or late 1920s

Approaching the Boelcke Memorial from the gate.

The monument is surrounded by 22 stones carrying countless names, many of them being female names. It is not known to me who these people had been so I may only assume they probably were donators who gave money to build the monument. To the left and the right of the monument are fields with graves. Many of the grave stones are weathered beyond readability while others had been replaced by new stones. There are two fields in front of the monument but more fields are located behind the monument.

A closer view of the Memorial.

This close view of the sarcophagus clearly shows it in a bad condition. It is all crackled up with plants growing from the cracks. Note the name BOELCKE on the base.

A close view of Boelcke's name on the base of his sarcophagus.

The left side of the sarcophagus showing a huge crack.

The right side also shows a huge crack. In fact the crack goes around the top of the sarcophagus making me assume the upper part was the lid which had then been modeled with mortar to give it a uniform look.

The statue above the sarcophagus.

Usually only the front of the Boelcke monument is being photographed for publications. This view shows you what's behind.

The artwork on the backside of the Boelcke Monument shows three women and four children.

Side view of the artwork on the back side of the Boelcke Monument.

A closer view of the artwork on the back side of the Boelcke Monument

Detail of the figures on the back side of the Boelcke Monument.

Back and side view.

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