Around Vienna there are about ten burial sites of Red Army soldiers who fell in April 1945 during the liberation of the city. Three of them had been left “deserted”: no wreaths, no sign that anyone ever comes here.
On 30 November 2025, the eve of the Day of the Unknown Soldier, it was these three we set out to visit: Ober-Waltersdorf, Achau and Laxenburg.
Ober-Waltersdorf: a grave under the ivy
Ober-Waltersdorf was the hardest. Ivy had completely overgrown the war grave and was already damaging the neighbouring graves. In the “before” photo, only the obelisk with its star shows through the greenery.
The volunteers cleared the site of weeds and gave the grave back its tidy look. Then they laid wreaths and flowers and lit candles.
Achau and Laxenburg: wreaths where there were none
Two more burial sites, in Achau and Laxenburg, had also stood without wreaths and without any sign of care. Here, too, they were tidied up, and wreaths and flowers were laid, just as in Ober-Waltersdorf.
Volunteers, 30 November 2025The memory of generations will live on, and not only on the Day of the Unknown Soldier.
Three war graves that until recently had not a single wreath have been cleaned up again and now stand with flowers.
