Who was Oskar Kusterer?

To be honest, nobody. The only three solid facts I have about him are his date of birth, date of death and place of burial. As his remains are buried in a World War II German Military Cemetery in Berlin, chances are he was in the military, too.  Other than that, despite searching numerous times (even on 27 July 2025) I can find no further details.

Oskar Kusterer died two months after the end of the second world war in Europe (7^th May 1945). How? Why did he die just then? Might he have been injured before the cessation of conflict, and spent months injured and dying? Was he killed in some sporadic fighting still going on after the formal end of the war? Was it some execution? I guess I / we will never know.

OTD 12/07/2005

On the sixtieth anniversary of his death, his simple gravestone was empty.

There was no wreath, not even a flower in sight, and no evidence that any family members or former comrades still alive, who remember him, had visited his grave on that day in 2005.

The emptiness seemed sad to me, as I have always been one to attend family graves as often as I can, and leave flowers and / or a candle; but I appreciate that’s not for everyone.

Maybe, in time, someone will leave a virtual flower on his grave, at FindAGrave.com?

Why should I care? Why is Oskar Kusterer’s memory or memorial significant to me?

Whenever John and I go on holiday to continental Europe, we enjoy visiting all sorts of historical sites and venues.  We often visit famous or important cemeteries, too, especially military cemeteries, “lest we forget”, as the saying goes! It is so easy to find signage to British and Commonwealth War Graves, cemeteries of other allied forces, too, but rarely have we seen that many German cemeteries.  Across both World Wars, of course, millions of Germans died, yet their resting places are frequently off the beaten track, and certainly not given the prominence of Allied sites and memorials. Understandable, really, but nevertheless, sad.

In 2005, after a teaching event with the Defence Medial Welfare Service (@TheDMWS) at Joint Head Quarters (JHQ) Rhinedahlen, Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, I flew to Berlin, where I was meeting up with John for a week’s holiday. We visited a range of historical places – including some of the famous gay bars, such as Andreas Kniepe – and of course, did some wonderful shopping at KaDeWe.

KaDeWe (Kaufhaus Des Westens) is not too far from Nollendorf Platz U-Bahn station, made infamous by the Nazis, who used it as the main deportation site, for men like us, to the concentration camps, where around 60% perished in the most brutal and inhumane ways imaginable.

When people today recall the Holocaust, it is easy for the media, politicians and religious leaders to manipulate history, to focus on the great tragedy of the extermination of some 6 million Jews only.  Some people even try to re-write history altogether; we know enough about that with the prominence of revisionist ‘Holocaust-deniers’!  But, even in commemorating the memory of all those Jewish people who suffered and died, we must never forget the significantly smaller numbers – but no less equally important – lives of others, snuffed out by Fascism.  They were not limited to the Poles and Russians; Roma / Gypsies; political prisoners dissidents and communists; Jehovah’s Witnesses; people with physical and especially mental disabilities, but, of course …  Nazi Germany’s gay (especially gay male) population, too.

One day, we went out to see where the former British Military camp had been, at Spandau.  Of course, that’s famous as the prison for the last remaining most senior officer in Hitler’s regime of terror: Rudolf Hess. We then went to the Olympischer Stadium, again, significant, not just because it’s one of the world’s historic Olympic stadia, but because this one was the born out of ‘that’ particular era in Germany’s not so distant past.  We walked and walked and walked!  Just as we decided to go back to the hotel, en route to the nearby U-Bahn, we saw a sign pointing to a German Military Cemetery.  All walked-out, but we couldn’t resist going in.

It was the most unusual cemetery I had ever seen, certainly not like the very formal and oft-repeated design of British and Commonwealth War Graves memorials.  This cemetery was circled down, in a woodland, towards a small lake in the centre of the park.  The graves were dotted in and out of the tree sections, giving the clear impression that this was first and foremost a woodland, that people’s remains just so happened to be buried in; rather than a purpose-built cemetery.

The headstones were small plaques, laid neatly in rows, on the ground.  That seemed significant.  They were close together, too.  That again was significant. Pourquoi?  Well, to me, this looked more like a burial site of cremated remains – or “cremains” – rather than full graves for coffins.  This fact was significant because cremation of German people’s bodies was not that popular back in the first half of the 20th century; even now, in certain parts of Germany, people and authorities are not that hot on cremation (excuse the pun!)

John and I walked around for some time, reading graves, taking in the views, when he eventually said he had had enough, was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel.  “Oh, go on, just a little longer”, I said, “just let me read a few more”.

As I looked down, immediately at my feet, where I was standing, was the grave of Oskar Kusterer, who died on that day, 12 July 1945, and this was 12 July 2005 – exactly 60 years to the date!  No flowers, no sign of recognition.

“Lest we forget”

Brandenburg Tor – photo taken by David, 2005

Rest in peace, Oskar. Chances are, you, like millions of your compatriots, were caught up in yet another futile war between European (and other) nations, a war not of your making, a war that ended your life aged 35.

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where war was no more!

Some references

Causalities in World War II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_casualties_in_World_War_II

The German Way of Death and Funerals https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/germany/the-german-way-of-death-funerals/

Persecution of Homosexuals in Nazi Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_homosexuals_in_Nazi_Germany

German War Graves Friedhof Heerstraße (where Oskar Kusterer is buried):

https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/28638/German-War-Graves-Friedhof-Heerstra%C3%9Fe.htm