 | The Kingdom of the Netherlands was involved in the Second World War on 10 May 1940. German troops attacked the Netherlands on this day. After the bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Air Force on 14 May 1940 and the threat to bombard further cities did the Netherlands sign up the capitulation documents. With this date started the occupation which lasts until May 1945.
During the time of 1940 and 1945 hundreds of thousands of Dutch boys and men were used as forced labour convicts. They took over jobs of German workers who must fight at the front lines in Europe. Almost 30,000 forced labour convicts came to death during this time.
On initiative of the Dutch War Grave Commission were built up 7 fields of honour between 1952 and 1956 which are maintained by the commission and the local governments. These fields of honour are located in Bremen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt/Main, Hanover, Lübeck, and Osnabrück. Dutch victims who died in the concentration camps because of hard work or other reasons are buried in these fields of honour.
The opening of the field of honour in Frankfurt/Main took place on 10 July 1956. It is a central cemetery and memorial for Dutch war victims who died in South-Germany and contains 756 graves. The memorial plate contains further 242 names which couldn't be buried in this cemetery. Here is also located the statue "Fallen Man". The inscription in the pedestal reads as follows:
"To the memory of the Dutch war victims of the concentration camps and their kommandos of Dachau, Flossenburg and Natzweiler."
An object of interest is a lime tree on the cemetery. This lime tree is a layer of the lime tree of Dillenburg under which Prince Willem van Oranje received the Dutch legation on 15 April 1568.
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