Heimkehrerdenkmal

The Heimkehrerdenkmal (also referred to as the Heimkehrermahnmal) is a monument in Friedland, Germany, dedicated to German prisoners of war during the Second World War. Both Heimkehrerdenkmal and Heimkehrermahnmal translate to Monument to Homecomers in English. It is significant as one of the only monuments in Germany dedicated to Germans who served as soldiers in the war. The monument was commissioned by the Verband der Heimkehrer, Kriegsgefangenen und Vermisstenangehörigen Deutschlands (Association of Returnees, Prisoners of War and Relatives of the Missing - VdH), which was founded in 1950 to represent the interests of German former soldiers. The VdH commissioned around 1800 monuments dedicated to German POWs, of which only a few remain. When the monument was inaugurated in 1967, representatives of the German federal government declined to attend because of the monument's controversial focus on German victimhood. The monument has been subject to vandalism, including graffiti referring to German concentration camps.

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).