Valga Vangilaagrite Kalmistu

Valga Vangilaagrite Kalmistu / Description

During the Second World War, there was a camp for prisoners of war in the territory of the current Priimets Industrial Estate where the former stables of the Estonian Army had been converted into prisons. The Stalag 351 Camp was founded in summer 1941 for captured soldiers fighting in the Red Army and Camp 187 for German prisoners of war was founded instead of it in 1944.
Interesting facts:
* the cemetery where German prisoners of war are buried was restored at the initiative of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (People’s Association for Caring for German War Graves);
* German prisoners of war built the Valga railway station that was completed in 1949;
* the Mourning monument by Anton Starkopf was erected to commemorate Soviet prisoners of war.