The slightly trapezoidal stone slab, which is only two or three centimeters thick, could itself be a symbol of a certain way of dealing with Germany’s Nazi past. “The Jodl family” is written on the plate, which has been covering up other information for several years. The name of the war criminal Alfred Jodl and his last rank as Colonel General in Hitler’s Wehrmacht are carved into the large, stone grave cross underneath. The record was intended to end years of debate about the tomb, but for someone like Bernadette Gottschalk, whose family members were murdered in Auschwitz, simply covering it up doesn’t give her peace of mind. The Bundestag and the Bavarian State Parliament have just given respectful words to two of their petitions on the subject, only to then be forced to file them as settled.
The Petitions Committee of the Bundestag told Gottschalk at the beginning of February that he shared their view that the stone “can be perceived as a homage to this Nazi war criminal and is therefore likely to hurt the feelings of the victims of the Holocaust and their descendants.” At the same time, there is a danger “that right-wing extremist circles will feel strengthened by the presence of such gravestones and memorial stones.” However, the Bundestag is not responsible for the cemetery on Fraueninsel, but only the island community of Chiemsee. The Interior Committee of the state parliament made a similar statement a few days ago.
Alfred Jodl is not buried in the otherwise very idyllic cemetery on Fraueninsel because his ashes were scattered in a branch of the Isar after his execution as a war criminal. For this reason, among other things, the community had for a long time been reluctant to deal with the issue and under greater public pressure. But then she decided to let the right of use for the grave site expire and not to extend it. But the descendants of one of Jodl’s wives sued for the extension in court in 2019 and later had the stone slab installed. The community has been struggling for years with a municipal memorial concept that would also include a plaque at the cemetery – probably with a brief explanation of the Jodl grave as well as many other graves.