The cemetery blends harmoniously into the landscape of the Dresden Heath.
In terms of its character, the cemetery in Dresden's "Junge Heide", which was created between 1934 and 1936, is completely different from other city cemeteries. The area remained what it had been before: a forest. The individual quarters were divided by large, natural paths and planting strips.As early as 1913, the city architect Hans Erlwein was commissioned to plan a new main cemetery for Dresden. Erlwein designed the new forest cemetery with a total size of 75 hectares, based on Munich cemetery concepts. Due to the city architect's fatal accident, the First World War and its effects, no measures were taken to realize it in the following years.The project was not resumed until the 1920s, the area of the Junge Heide on Moritzburger Strasse was incorporated into Dresden in 1927 and the cemetery area was reduced to around 53 hectares. The director of the city gardens administration, Heinrich Balke, the city architect Paul Wolf and the architect Rosi Pohl, who was employed by the city building authority, were significantly involved in the creation of the Heidefriedhof cemetery. On January 3, 1936, the first urn burial took place in the Heidefriedhof cemetery. After the urn burial quarters had been created, areas for coffin burials were also prepared. The first coffin burial took place on November 20, 1937. In 1943, work began on preparing areas for the burial of civilian victims in the event of a disaster. This became a tragic reality in February 1945. At the beginning of 1948, a competition was announced to design the "Air Force Victims' Grove of Honor". Work on the complex lasted until 1954. At the same time, the first permanent ceremony hall building was built based on designs by the building councilor Leibold. Plans from the 1920s and 1970s to build larger ceremony halls with their own crematorium were never implemented. At the beginning of the 1960s, the facility of the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime was built in the front part of the Grove of Honor after its burial area in grave field U22 had proven to be too small. At the same time, the ceremony area with the flame bowl was created in its current form. The design of the final area of the Grove of Honor was fundamentally revised, the high cross was dismantled and a new memorial wall was put up.In 1975, urn burials began in the communal urn facility, which has been home to Rudolf Sitte's sculpture "Die and Become" since 1982. In 1989, Thea Richter from Dresden designed a work of art in memory of the prisoners of war and forced laborers of the Soviet Union.There is a small exhibition in the second gatehouse at the cemetery entrance opposite the cemetery administration. The collected exhibits, plans and photos show the development of the cemetery.The ceremony hall was built between 1948 and 1950. In its natural design with sandstone façade and slate roof, it blends harmoniously into the landscape of the Junge Heide.Source: Cemetery brochure Heidefriedhof
