The Germans had a military post in the wood Praatbos. It was there that the German cemetery was founded. After the Great War, the cemetery was extended and a became a collective cemetery just like at Langemark and at Menen. Almost 22,000 graves were transferred from 61 cemeteries in Belgium. 25,638 German soldiers have their final resting place under the trees.
The endless rows of grave stones in the grass field and the art work 'Treurend Ouderpaar' (the grieving parents) of the German sculptress Käthe Kollowitz make this cemetery one of the most intruiging military cemeteries. The are no heroes here, no glory, but only a silence that says it all, a silent indictment. Beneath one of the grave stones nearby the sculpture lays Peter Kollwitz, the son of the sculptress Käthe Kollwitz.