The Invalids’ Cemetery since 1748: key dates
- 1748
First burial
Non-commissioned officer Hans Michael Neumann was buried on 20 December. The cemetery belonged to the Invalidenhaus, which had admitted disabled soldiers since November 1748.
- 1769
Section B added
A second cemetery area was opened west of the original ground, now section A.
- 1826–1834
Scharnhorst monument
Gerhard von Scharnhorst was transferred from Prague to Berlin; his monument, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, was completed by 1834.
- 1860s
Expansion to the canal
The cemetery expanded westwards, creating the later sections E to H.
- 1951
Closed to new burials
After wartime destruction, the cemetery was closed. Its present role is predominantly historical and commemorative.
- 1961–1990
Border installations across the cemetery
The Berlin Wall and hinterland strip cut through the grounds; graves, paths and vegetation were lost.
- since 1990
Protection and recovery
Grave monuments, paths, cemetery walls and Berlin Wall remains have been secured, restored or, in selected cases, reconstructed.
Why is it called the Invalids’ Cemetery?
Frederick II ordered an Invalidenhaus near the Charité in 1746. Residents were expected to support themselves partly through agriculture. Its burial ground lay north of the house beside Kirschallee, later Scharnhorststraße. The original area corresponds to present section A; section B followed in 1769.
The cemetery grew during the nineteenth century. Representative monuments made it a place of Prussian remembrance. In addition to the famous Scharnhorst monument, Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed graves for Tauentzien, the Pirch brothers and Job von Witzleben. From the second half of the century, civil servants, theologians, writers, engineers and industrialists without a direct Invalidenhaus connection could also be buried here.
Beyond generals: families, scholars and nurses
The Invalidenhaus community included more than soldiers. Their relatives and civilian members of the community were also buried here. Later burials included scholars and nurses from the Augusta Hospital opposite. The graves of Gotthilf Hagen and Ernst Troeltsch make that civilian history tangible; their profiles and grave photographs complement the better-known military biographies.
Why did the Berlin Wall run through the cemetery?
The border followed the western bank of the Berlin-Spandau Shipping Canal; the water belonged to East Berlin. The cemetery therefore lay directly beside the expanding border defences. From August 1961, parts of its burial grounds became a restricted strip.
The concrete barrier visible inside the grounds is the hinterland wall, a rear barrier of the border system. It should not be confused with the historical cemetery wall beside the canal. The controlled border strip lay between them; the former patrol road now belongs to the Berlin Wall Trail. The cemetery tour helps you view these layers together.
Günter Litfin: attempted escape at Humboldthafen
Günter Litfin was shot dead on 24 August 1961 while trying to escape through Humboldthafen. The tailor lived in East Berlin and had worked in West Berlin; the Wall cut him off from his workplace. He was the first person killed by gunfire at the Berlin Wall, not its first fatality overall.
The memorial to Litfin is outside the cemetery. The optional tour extension distinguishes it from the stops within the grounds.
Why are so many burial areas empty today?
The losses did not begin with the Wall. Older graves that were no longer maintained had already been cleared before the Second World War: approximately 6,000 plots counted in 1925 had been reduced by about half by 1941. Wartime destruction, later clearance and the border installations reduced the remaining stock further.
The lawns are therefore not simply open spaces in an originally sparsely occupied park. Earlier graves often stood there. An empty patch alone, however, cannot identify a person or establish a present grave location; consult the grave-search guidance for that task.
Distinguishing Nazi perpetrators from resistance
Both perpetrators of the Nazi regime and members of the resistance were buried here. Reinhard Heydrich was a central organiser of the Holocaust; Wilhelm Staehle, by contrast, belonged to the resistance. Sharing a burial ground does not make their political roles equivalent or imply the same form of honour.
What do the small replacement stones mean?
A replacement or restitution stone identifies an earlier grave without recreating its lost monument in full. Ernst Troeltsch’s grave illustrates the distinction: the original large boulder is gone, and a low inscribed stone recalls the theologian at the location. The stone belongs to the later history of remembrance, rather than being the original monument.
Conservation does not mean rebuilding everything
Since protected status was granted in 1990 and the association was founded in 1992, monuments and paths have been secured and restored. Completed in 1998, the lapidarium safeguards valuable originals. It is not a substitute for a map of every historical grave. Open spaces, surviving Wall sections and replacement name stones leave different phases of the cemetery’s history visible together.
A conservation example from 2026: General von Reiche
General von Reiche’s restored grave was inaugurated on 20 June 2026. A long-lost, broken metal plate was restored with support from Berlin’s State Heritage Office. Unlike a replacement stone, this work conserved a surviving historical component.
Compare the eight featured graves during your visit. Historical grave types helps distinguish steles, boulders, sarcophagus forms and replacement stones.