I got lost looking for this cemetery and a German woman offered help. I was pleased that I understood her directions that involved pointing and military style hand gestures and was able to thank her in German.
I decided I had to do a sketch that showed some of the hundreds of German soldier headstones in the Ehren Friedhof cemetery in Duisburg Germany. There were three designs of headstone, the stout German cross, a classic tall arch and stones lying flat on the ground. I was again attracted to a sculpture near the entrance to the cemetery. This is a common area where people walk their dogs. I don’t know if they pick up the poop, but I assume so. Dogs are startled to see someone sitting in the cemetery sketching, so they bark frantically but eventually come up to me for a few pets.
The statue is titled Sitzender Jungling (Sitting Youth) by Von Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881-1919). The original sculpture is in the Lehmbruck Museum (Friedrich-Wilhelm-Strasse 40 47051 Duisburg, Germany). It was recast at the suggestion of the citizens of Duisburg in 2021 for this site.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from the Ruhr area of Germany died in World War II. Estimates are that about 4.2 million German military and civilian deaths occurred in the war with significant losses concentrated in battles that occurred in the Ruhr Pocket. Duisburg was a primary target for Allied bombing raids resulting in heavy civilian losses.
There was a third statue in the cemetery that was a monument to the German 193rd Infantry Regiment. It was erected in 1933. The statue was considered inappropriate by many as it had an inscription that glorified war and nationalism. It was destroyed in 2015.