Malcolm Hilgartner

The sheer amount of remains, unearthed, numbering in the millions of bones, makes DNA testing too costly, so researchers use other objects found with the skeletons as clues, like dog tags or letters from loved ones. As Schrader and I walked through the hall, we passed a collection of objects that survived the years alongside the bones of the dead.

The sheer amount of remains, unearthed, numbering in the millions of bones, makes DNA testing too costly, so researchers use other objects found with the skeletons as clues, like dog tags or letters from loved ones. As Schrader and I walked through the hall, we passed a collection of objects that survived the years alongside the bones of the dead.

A rusted cross, a glass eye with a blue iris, a pocket watch with arms frozen at five minutes to eleven. Schrader produced a bottle that once held wine. It now contained a typewritten message with the name Franz Tauber. He was born on July 16, 1918, and was a milkman before joining the war.

A rusted cross, a glass eye with a blue iris, a pocket watch with arms frozen at five minutes to eleven. Schrader produced a bottle that once held wine. It now contained a typewritten message with the name Franz Tauber. He was born on July 16, 1918, and was a milkman before joining the war.

Schrader asked a colleague to log into a database, but the result said the Volksbund had not yet found any descendants of Tauber. At the other end of the table sat hundreds of dog tags that were collected from exhumation sites, organized into piles of around a dozen. 300 lives sitting on a table, he said. 500 children left behind, maybe. 300 wives, 600 parents.

Schrader asked a colleague to log into a database, but the result said the Volksbund had not yet found any descendants of Tauber. At the other end of the table sat hundreds of dog tags that were collected from exhumation sites, organized into piles of around a dozen. 300 lives sitting on a table, he said. 500 children left behind, maybe. 300 wives, 600 parents.

Schrader paused for a moment as his colleagues continued typing. The question is, why do we do this? He had not always been so philosophical, but when Schrader was a young lieutenant, he visited a Volksbund war cemetery in Belgium, the final destination of nearly 40,000 German soldiers, many of them the same age as Schrader and the rest of his paratrooper platoon.

Schrader paused for a moment as his colleagues continued typing. The question is, why do we do this? He had not always been so philosophical, but when Schrader was a young lieutenant, he visited a Volksbund war cemetery in Belgium, the final destination of nearly 40,000 German soldiers, many of them the same age as Schrader and the rest of his paratrooper platoon.

The stark reality of all those graves raised many questions for him about military violence and the moral culpability of those who fought. What allows men to kill each other? he asked himself. What war can turn a nice, caring family father in 1938 into a fighting machine in 1942 in Russia? Still, the living judge the dead.

The stark reality of all those graves raised many questions for him about military violence and the moral culpability of those who fought. What allows men to kill each other? he asked himself. What war can turn a nice, caring family father in 1938 into a fighting machine in 1942 in Russia? Still, the living judge the dead.

Very few families are interested in accepting the bones of Nazi ancestors when the folkspoon calls with the news of their discovery. Other groups have attacked the Volksbund's work outright.

Very few families are interested in accepting the bones of Nazi ancestors when the folkspoon calls with the news of their discovery. Other groups have attacked the Volksbund's work outright.

In 2020, anti-fascist leaders began protesting when it became public that German officials had been attending ceremonies at a Volksbund graveyard in the Netherlands that held the remains of prominent Nazis, including Julius Detman, the SS officer who had Anne Frank arrested.

In 2020, anti-fascist leaders began protesting when it became public that German officials had been attending ceremonies at a Volksbund graveyard in the Netherlands that held the remains of prominent Nazis, including Julius Detman, the SS officer who had Anne Frank arrested.

They were joined by Jewish leaders who signed a petition calling the cemetery the most racist and anti-Semitic place in the Netherlands. The Volksbund brushes off such criticism. If Europe is to confront the damage done by its history of war, the group believes, then it must have places to remember the dead, including figures like Dettmann.

They were joined by Jewish leaders who signed a petition calling the cemetery the most racist and anti-Semitic place in the Netherlands. The Volksbund brushes off such criticism. If Europe is to confront the damage done by its history of war, the group believes, then it must have places to remember the dead, including figures like Dettmann.

Some time after I returned from Germany, I looked up Arthur Graf, the man who organized the petition against the cemetery. Dead people need to be buried, he said when I called him in the Netherlands. You can't just leave them lying there. But the man who ultimately sent Anne Frank to her death? By offering him a tomb like anyone else, he said, the Volksbund had gone too far in its mission.

Some time after I returned from Germany, I looked up Arthur Graf, the man who organized the petition against the cemetery. Dead people need to be buried, he said when I called him in the Netherlands. You can't just leave them lying there. But the man who ultimately sent Anne Frank to her death? By offering him a tomb like anyone else, he said, the Volksbund had gone too far in its mission.

It made Nazi dead look like the war's victims, not its criminals, a goal that Graf told me he suspected was behind the Volksbund's desire to care for the graves. I asked Graf what he would do with the site if he were in charge. I'd put an earthen wall around it, he told me. Let the brambles grow. That's it.

It made Nazi dead look like the war's victims, not its criminals, a goal that Graf told me he suspected was behind the Volksbund's desire to care for the graves. I asked Graf what he would do with the site if he were in charge. I'd put an earthen wall around it, he told me. Let the brambles grow. That's it.