Nazi wreath laid on SS grave at Remembrance service
A JEWISH woman who attended a Remembrance Day service to mark Anglo-German reconciliation was shocked to discover a wreath had been laid on the grave of a Nazi general.
SS General Maximilian von Herff, who is buried at the German War Cemetery, at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, ran the personal office of Heinrich Himmler, who was head of the SS and a chief architect of the genocide against the Jews.
SS General von Herff’s simple grave reveals nothing of his part in the Holocaust but a Jewish woman attending the service was “horrified” to discover that a wreath with Nazi symbols had been placed on it.
The symbols represent the Nazi Werwolf resistance, set up in 1944 to establish active forces behind enemy lines as the Allies pushed through Germany.
The wreath was also accompanied by text written in AngloSaxon runes which contained Nazi slogans.
“I was shocked to see it,” said the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“I know neo-Nazis use all these Nordic symbols. We were just horrified.”
She was also shocked to discover another wreath at the cemetery which was decorated in black ribbon and bore the insignia of a group which commemorates the soldiers of an SS division.
“When we pointed it out to organisers later on, I think the wreaths were removed but it is still pretty awful.”
The official service was followed by a reception at the Haling Dene Centre, which was organised by the Penkridge Ango-German Remembrance Day Association. Other attendees at the event included German Embassy’s Charge d’Affairs Julia Gross, and the British German Association president Stephen Watson.