Sigolsheim National Cemetery
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © ECPAD
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Located in one of the deadliest areas of the Alsace front, Sigolsheim National Cemetery is home to soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Colmar Pocket (5 December 1944 – 9 February 1945). It was Marshall Lattre de Tassigny, former Commander of the First French Army, who wanted this military cemetery built. Construction work took place from 1962 to 1965 and the cemetery was inaugurated on 2 May 1965 by the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Madame de Lattre de Tassigny. The cemetery houses the bodies of soldiers exhumed from communal cemeteries in Haut Rhin, Vosges and Territoire de Belfort.
It also contains the bodies of 1,589 French soldiers buried in individual graves, including 792 graves of North African soldiers and 15 Jewish soldiers’ graves.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Colmar and to symbolise the fighters’ sacrifice, the military authorities decided that soldiers who helped to liberate the city would also be buried in the same cemetery. The village of Sigolsheim, which lay at the heart of the battle, and hotly disputed right up to the final hours of fighting, was chosen as the site for the cemetery, on the slopes of the hill that was known to the enemy as Blutberg or “Blood Hill”.
Construction was entrusted to the architect Michel Porte. Located 358 metres above sea level, this military cemetery is arranged into twelve rounded terraces, and designed to be seen from the Kaysersberg valley, as well as from Colmar and all the surrounding areas.
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © Guillaume Pichard
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © Guillaume Pichard
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © Guillaume Pichard
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © Guillaume Pichard
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © Guillaume Pichard
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © Guillaume Pichard
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © ECPAD
La nécropole nationale de Sigolsheim. © ECPAD
Exercice de déploiement au 1er RCA (Régiment de chars d'Afrique) de la 5e DB (Division blindée) dans la région de Colmar, automne 1944. © ECPAD
Exercice au tir d'arme anti-char par un fantassin du 1er RCA (Régiment de chars d'Afrique) de la 5e DB (Division blindée) dans la région de Colmar. © ECPAD
Chasseur de char Jagdpanther en position dans un bois de Wolfgantzen situé à huit kilomètres de Colmar, 31 janvier-6 février 1945. © ECPAD
Soldat de l'Armée d'Afrique ayant pris part aux combats de la poche de Colmar, 31 janvier-6 février 1945. © ECPAD
Chars alliés progressant dans les faubourgs de Colmar. © ECPAD
Défilé pour célébrer la libération de Colmar, 1er-2 février 1945. © ECPAD
Practical information
Sigolsheim
À 10 km au nord de Colmar. Sur la colline surplombant la ville, suivre le fléchage
Visites libres toute l’année
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Haute-Alsace tourisme
1, rue Schlumberger
68006 Colmar Cedex
Tél. 03 89 20 10 68
