Volksbund Deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge (VDK) / German War Graves Commission
The organization is responsible for the restoration and maintenance of war graves throughout the world.
The organization has a separate division responsible for locating unknown graves and transferring them to newly established collective war cemeteries.
The work is carried out primarily by national working groups, as well as by home guard units and the military. Among other places, large military search teams have been deployed in Demyansk, Russia, to remove live ammunition, explosives, and similar hazards, as well as to search for fallen soldiers (graves) in the forests. A major cleanup operation.
The Danish state/military has NOT participated at all.
In Denmark, the organization is represented by: Horst Terp, Mågen 21A, 6270 Tønder.
VDK publishes the magazine “Stimme & Weg.”
A similar organization is the “Kriegsgräberstiftung Wenn alle Brüder schweigen”, based in Stuttgart and run by former soldiers and their relatives.
One of VDK’s major cemeteries is located in Saldus, Latvia. Many thousands of fallen soldiers are buried here, some of whom were Danish. This cemetery is one of the largest and oldest in the Baltic region, and fallen soldiers from across the country have been reinterred here. The land and construction of the cemetery were financed by VDK, Germany, and Latvian gardeners are permanently employed to maintain the site.
See also the “Veterans” link.