Tim Grady, a Professor of Modern History at the University of Chester, shares insights from his book on the compassionate care of enemy dead in the World Wars. He discusses the touching acts of kindness between local communities and war graves commissions, highlighting reciprocal respect across national divides. Grady reveals the evolution of memorial practices by organizations like the VDK and explores the tensions between personal grief and institutional narratives. His narrative underscores the importance of remembering enemy lives and the emotional connections fostered through grave tending.
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POW Graves Moved to Cannock Chase
Tim Grady discovered many German POWs died in British camps and were first buried locally before later exhumation and reburial at Cannock Chase cemetery.
This history repeated across many POW camps in the UK and Germany, spanning both World Wars, highlighting a largely untold story.
insights INSIGHT
Enemy Burial Fosters Wartime Contact
Enemy deaths during the World Wars created ongoing relationships across battle lines through burial and care of enemy dead on home soil.
This nuanced contact challenges assumptions of complete hostility and shows early acts of empathy and reconciliation.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Grave Tending Connects Enemies
Local people on both sides often tended enemy graves and shared photographs with families in the opposing country.
These acts of kindness created rare personal connections amidst the conflict's harshness.
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Tim Grady's "Burying the Enemy" delves into the often-overlooked history of handling the remains of enemy combatants during World Wars I and II in Britain and Germany. The book explores the personal stories of families tending graves, revealing unexpected acts of reconciliation across national lines. Grady examines the contrasting approaches of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the German VDK, highlighting the tensions between official policies and individual experiences. The narrative also sheds light on the exhumation and relocation of bodies, challenging conventional narratives of war and remembrance. The book offers a unique perspective on the complexities of national identity, memory, and reconciliation in the aftermath of conflict.
In Burying the Enemy: The Story of Those who Cared for the Dead in Two World Wars(Yale University Press, 2025), Tim Grady recounts here a detailed history of the fate of combatants who died on enemy soil in England and Germany in World Wars I and II. The books draws on a rich archive of personal family experiences, and describes the often touching acts of kindness and reconciliation with families caring for graves of enemy personnel in churchyards and local cemeteries close to where those deaths took place. Both sides were at pains to photograph tended graves, demonstrating reciprocal respect. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the German equivalent - the VDK - obscured decision-making around repatriation, which led to some family distress. Grady recounts in detail the creation of the German military cemetery at Cannock Chase, which comprised a year-long programme of exhumations across the UK. This book is a highly readable and touching account of the tensions that arose between families and the state in response to military death in the World Wars, offering a unique insight into personal German/English relations during both and after both conflicts.
Tim Grady is professor of modern history at the University of Chester.
Dr Julie Rugg is a Reader in Social Policy at the University of York, UK. She has an abiding interest in the ways in which societies come to an accommodation with mortality. The Cemetery Research website connects scholars with similar interests and in multiple disciplines from around the world.
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