Zeithain Memorial Grove

The memorial commemorates the victims of the prisoner of war camp at Zeithain near Riesa between 1941 and 1945. The camp was established in April 1941, prior to National Socialist Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. Beginning in October 1943, Italian, Serbian, British, French and Polish prisoners were also interned in the camp. A total of approximately 25,000 to 30,000 Soviet prisoners of war and over 900 POWs from other countries, at least 862 of them Italians, died in Zeithain. The primary reasons for these deaths were malnourishment and disastrous health conditions.

The camp's victims are buried in four cemeteries in the vicinity of what were once the grounds of the camp at the Jacobsthal railway station. A permanent exhibition depicts the history of the camp. The exhibition is located in the document building of the Zeithain Memorial Grove and in a former camp hut. The memorial is intended to be a meeting place for relatives of the former prisoners of war and as an information and education centre.