Urgent tree work carried out in Berlin
12 April 2012
137 Birch trees have been removed from Berlin 1939-1945 War
Cemetery in order to ensure the safety of both our staff and the
public.
The trees were infected by the Piptoporus Betulinus fungus and
two had already fallen down in the last year.
Our staff collaborated with the local authorities in Berlin and
a team of specialist tree surgeons to complete a three-week project
to remove all the trees and repair and re-level the ground.
All felled wood was shredded and collected by a local factory to
be used as an environmentally-friendly means of producing
electricity.
Discussions are currently underway to decide upon the most
appropriate species to replace the trees with.
The cemetery contains 3, 595 Commonwealth burials of the Second
World War, 397 of them unidentified. Almost 80 per cent of those
commemorated are airmen who lost their lives in the air raids over
Berlin and towns in eastern Germany.