News

The German funerary monument in context

23. July 2025

Four information boards place the German grave monument in the Daleu cemetery in a historical context.

After intensive political and media discussion and careful historical research, the city of Chur, with the support of the canton, has erected four information boards at the Daleu cemetery. These explain the background to the memorial to German interned soldiers and place it in its historical context.

Political impetus

The political process began in 2023 with an interpellation from local councillor Angela Carigiet Fitzgerald (SP). She asked how the controversial monument should be dealt with in future. Out of four options - leave it, remove it, an anti-national socialist memorial or a supplementary information board - the municipal council opted for the information board. At the same time, Timo Schneider (Die Mitte) submitted an order instructing the city council to have the history of the memorial stone comprehensively researched and to take measures to make the historical context visible on site. The Chur city archives then carried out the historical research, which was presented to the municipal council in April 2024 - together with an initial draft of the plaque.

Delay

Completion was delayed due to criticism of the content and design of the original draft plaque. In addition, the city council decided to wait for the publication of the cantonal research report on the history of fascism and National Socialism in Graubünden. This was published in March 2025 and confirmed the content that had been researched so far. In terms of content, clarifications were made regarding the two students Bunzel and Währer, who were only buried in 1967. In addition, the dedication to the government of the Canton of Graubünden and the municipal and city council of Chur was adapted. The layout of the plaques was also revised: The content has been professionally redesigned, spread across four panels and placed at a height that is also easy to read for wheelchair users.

The panels now installed shed light on various aspects of the memorial stone's history: its creation, the political and historical background, the inscriptions and the role of the German War Graves Commission. The aim of the plaques is to make history visible and enable a critical examination of the past.

With the erection of the plaques in July 2025, the city of Chur has taken an important step towards placing the memorial in an appropriate historical context.

Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.