My Personal Project, Restoring a German WW1 Grave in Transylvania

[Connaught Ranger]

Hallo Fellow Members:),

November the First is upon us again and I thought I would share with you a little private project of mine, in the Summer of 2007 while conducting a survey of local Graveyards in the town of Deva where I live, for military headstones, located outside the area of the Heros Cemetery I came across this one from WW1 in a very neglected state.

What caught my eye was the depiction of an Iron Cross on the memorial tablet, hence my presumption that its German as opposed to Austro-Hungarian, most of the names were illegible. Its approximately 18 meters long and 5 meters wide, my first attempts to get it in order were realized in time for November 1st 2007.

That evening I went to the site with my wife and I took 6 candles and a wreath of flowers in memory of these 6 men who who died so long ago.

This years efforts were the removal of grass and ivy from the surface of the graves, and the redoing of the soldiers names in Black on the old marble stone, which in itself is damaged:-

+

Andreas Hoffman. Ges. 1916.

Lieutnant Scobel. Ges. 1916.

Theodor Stieler. Ges 1916.

Walter Dre?chler. Ges. 1916.

Michael Brenner. Ges. 1916.

Andreas Weber. Ges 1915.

+ R. I. P. +

I have contacted the German Volksbund for information with regards these men, but so far have received no information with regards them, in 1915 till mid 1916 Romania had not entered the war, and this part of what is today Romania was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Connaught Ranger.

[California Joe]

Very interesting.

What did you use to blacken the names?

Are there any laws prohibiting private citizens from restoring grave sites or anything like that?

Edit: I think it is a laudable effort.

[LineDoggie]

Hallo Fellow Members:),

November the First is upon us again and I thought I would share with you a little private project of mine, in the Summer of 2007 while conducting a survey of local Graveyards in the town of Deva where I live, for military headstones, located outside the area of the Heros Cemetery I came across this one from WW1 in a very neglected state.

What caught my eye was the depiction of an Iron Cross on the memorial tablet, hence my presumption that its German as opposed to Austro-Hungarian, most of the names were illegible. Its approximately 18 meters long and 5 meters wide, my first attempts to get it in order were realized in time for November 1st 2007.

That evening I went to the site with my wife and I took 6 candles and a wreath of flowers in memory of these 6 men who who died so long ago.

This years efforts were the removal of grass and ivy from the surface of the graves, and the redoing of the soldiers names in Black on the old marble stone, which in itself is damaged:-

+

Andreas Hoffman. Ges. 1916.

Lieutnant Scobel. Ges. 1916.

Theodor Stieler. Ges 1916.

Walter Dre?chler. Ges. 1916.

Michael Brenner. Ges. 1916.

Andreas Weber. Ges 1915.

+ R. I. P. +

I have contacted the German Volksbund for information with regards these men, but so far have received no information with regards them, in 1915 till mid 1916 Romania had not entered the war, and this part of what is today Romania was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Connaught Ranger.

Quite nicely done for these men who rest so far from Home.

[Connaught Ranger]

Very interesting.

What did you use to blacken the names?

Are there any laws prohibiting private citizens from restoring grave sites or anything like that?

Edit: I think it is a laudable effort.

Permanent Maker applied by hand, killer on the lower back though.

No I do not think I contravened any local laws,

they are probably glad to have somebody to do it for free,

as nobody else seemed to give a damn about it.

Connaught Ranger.:)

[Herman the II]

Walter Dre?chler. Ges. 1916.


I believe the missing letter is "s", back then the "s" was written that way.
The name should be Dreschler.
Many thanks to you and your wife.
I will try to find out some details about those men.

[Connaught Ranger]

I believe the missing letter is "s", back then the "s" was written that way.
The name should be Dreschler.
Many thanks to you and your wife.
I will try to find out some details about those men.

Many thanks for the info, my Gothic letter reading skills are poor.

Any information would be welcome.

I am prepared to look after the plot while I am here, hopefully for the next 50 years or so (touch-wood):), with the 100th Anniversary of WW1 coming up in 2014 and the fact that one of these mens deaths is dated 1915 I will have to consider costing a new memorial stone as the original is badly fractured and the marble in the lower portion has become very porous.

Connaught Ranger.:)

[goat89]

I applaud you for your works Connaught Ranger.

[Herman the II]

I had a first glimpse look:
Those soldiers should have been attached to the 9th Army ("9.Armee").
The "9.Armee" commanded by "Erich von Falkenhayn" (the man that also commanded the assault on Verdun) entered the theatre in Romania in August/September 1916.
Therefore the death of "Andreas Weber" doesn't fit into the picture.
Its a very interesting topic, "Deva" was called "Diemrich" back then, maybe the city was host to a hospital of the 9th Army.
I will look further...


P.s.
Also note that the memorial stone says "gestorben"(died in 1916) instead of "gefallen"(fallen in 1916).

[Pandemonium]

You should try to email the Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge , they most likely to have information on German cemetries, but of course not as accurated as the Commonwealth War Graves Comission, but maybe it can help.

[Herman the II]

I looked through parts of my literature and came to the conclusion that those soldiers may have been attached to the "Alpenkorps". That formation fought as part of the 9th army some 50 km westwards of Deva.
Could be wrong though, I will continue..

Btw.
The correct names are:
Andreas Hoffmann
Theodor Stieler
Michael Brenner
"Leutnant" Strobel
(there was a Leutnant "von Strobel" in the "Bay.Jäg.Batl.2" a formation of the "Alpenkorps", he got awarded for bravery in 1916, however its unclear if he did die in that year..)
Walter Dreschler
Andreas Weber

[drakegoodman]

Intriguing post CR. Hope your enquiries with the Volksbund pay off, I'd be keen to learn the outcome.

[Anthony91]

Wow Ranger, good work and thank you!

[Ed Robinson]

Good on you and your wife. Its good to see some one who cares enough about military history and respecting the fallen to put an effort in.

Thumbs up all around.

[oldsoak]

Good deed mate ! A very humanitarian gesture if I may say so. May what goes round come round as they say.

[Bushranger]

That is awesome what you have done there CR, honorable & noble mate. Well done. Who knows down the track there relatives may one day know where they have been laid to rest.

[scottyboy]

Good for you and your wife CR.

A Humanitarian gesture indeed.

[Squeezee]

Very nice work, I applaud you for your time and effort to restore these graves.

[Andreas]

I applaud your effort.. Nicely done

[James]

Well done.

[Yosy]

Very commendable effort indeed. Keep us posted in the later developments.

[muck]

Kudos to you for your efforts, Connaught Ranger!

[EZFEED]

Simply awesome CR!!!!! :) My hat is definitley off to you.

It would be interesting to find out if they have any surviving family descendants and then contact them.

[EZFEED]

Many thanks for the info, my Gothic letter reading skills are poor.

Any information would be welcome.

I am prepared to look after the plot while I am here, hopefully for the next 50 years or so (touch-wood):), with the 100th Anniversary of WW1 coming up in 2014 and the fact that one of these mens deaths is dated 1915 I will have to consider costing a new memorial stone as the original is badly fractured and the marble in the lower portion has become very porous.

Connaught Ranger.:)

Hey CR, I want to say there is a clear resin that you can apply over the marble and that will seal it and stabilize it. It is commonly used in sealing marble floors and the restoration of marble tile floors. Also the stone can be repaired as well using an epoxy and cement if needed. The headstone on my grandmother’s grave was broken when the groundskeepers accidentally knocked it with their mower. A man was called out to repair it and he used a sealing epoxy and some other things. If you look at it today you can’t tell where it was broken. Call a monument company or whomever sells headstones and they can tell you what would be needed. I think that as long as you seal it and keep the ice out it should stop the expansion.

So I have a question......do you routinely browse cemeteries or were you specifically looking for someone?:)

[Kingswat]

Nice job .

[California Joe]

He's right. I have some marble sealer out in my garage come to think of it. Used it on a couple tile floors after I put them down.

[Ichhabe]

Good to see that I'm not the only one interested in war graves. A job well done CR.

[Indiana Jones]

Good to see that I'm not the only one interested in war graves. A job well done CR.
Absolutely.

[California Joe]

I remember reading an article a couple of years ago, I think in the Smithsonian magazine, about the sorry state of WW1 graves and memorials around the world. They were rapidly falling into a state of neglect and disrepair because barely anyone alive remembered the conflict 1st hand, and noone was interested in maintaining them.

[BMUS]

Hat's of for you sir. Hounorable done.

[EZFEED]

Any updates?!?!?!?!?

[Connaught Ranger]

Any updates?!?!?!?!?

Well I can add these pictures taken November 4th 2008

Daylight picture showing the flowers holding out against the cold nights.

Local automated grass cutter at work in the cemetery.rofl
And some of the nearby flower decorated graves.

As for information this is Eastern Europe and life is very sedate,

as in don't do today what you can do tomorrow:p

Connaught Ranger

[CMNot]

Fantastic, a great deed.

It is the threads like this that really bring me back to this site, day after day.

[SBL]

I hope you checked for vampires.

[Createdeemcee]

Very nice CR, thats a very respectful thing to do.

[Umbro2914]

resurrecting an old topic, but I'm most interested in finding out if you ever recieved any info from the German Volksbund regarding these soldiers?

[Super Sheep]

Very nice mate.

[Connaught Ranger]

Sadly I have received no reply from the German Volksbund regarding these soldiers,

not even an acknowledgment that my emails were received.:-(

Pictures from October this year:-

Old school grass cutting, on knees with garden shears.

Hopefully I can pick-up a second-hand grass trimmer in 2010.

And get to dig out the upper front right corner that has become overgrown,

My biggest fear is the Church who own the graveyard, will dig up the remains and place all the remains into a smaller normal size plot, so has to sell of the surplus space at a high premium.:|

Connaught Ranger.

[CMNot]

It's looking good mate. Perhaps you could have one of our German members translate your email into German, see if that garners a better response?

[Umbro2914]

damn, i was hoping some new information surfaced over the past year. Maybe CMN's right, a letter in German might get a better response. Regardless; thanks for all that you did for these soldiers.

[Jarhead]

Wow, I just stumbled over this threat.
You have done an awesome work, Kev.
Thank you for taking care of this grave!!

If you want me to translate something, just let me know.

[quinsen]

God bless you for your efforts!

[Havoc345]

Sadly I have received no reply from the German Volksbund regarding these soldiers,

not even an acknowledgment that my emails were received.:-(

Pictures from October this year:-

Old school grass cutting, on knees with garden shears.

Hopefully I can pick-up a second-hand grass trimmer in 2010.

And get to dig out the upper front right corner that has become overgrown,

My biggest fear is the Church who own the graveyard, will dig up the remains and place all the remains into a smaller normal size plot, so has to sell of the surplus space at a high premium.:|

Connaught Ranger.

These men were most likely local Transylvanian Saxons. Unfortunately since WW2 there has been no lost love between the Saxons and the Hungarians/Szekler populace. Their property was taken away, many of the towns they inhabitated from the 13th century on were ethnically cleansed and their graves were desecrated. Most have taken advantage of Germany's foreign Germans citizenship deal and moved to Germany.

[Zarak]

You really impress me Connaught Ranger. Cheers.

[Warden]

If i were you i would E-Mail a few German newspapers about you're undertaking it may provoke a response, chances are the relevant authorities may not know these graves are there.

You do these men a great honour Connaught.

[hidayatnw]

god bless you CR for your nice gesture..

[Warden]

It seems the German War Graves Commission has an online service with more than 4 million individual entrys, have you tried them?

[MOKA.ROUX]

Good on you and your wife. Its good to see some one who cares enough about military history and respecting the fallen to put an effort in.

Thumbs up all around.



i agree, well done, very honourable effort :-)

[546]

Admirable deed sir! Great job! :)

[tluassa]

Thanks very much for your job. Remembers me of my time in Reshev when I did this for a month in a holiday-project from my school.