Tim Grady is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Chester. His most recent book published with Yale University Press in 2025 is Burying the Enemy: The Story of those who Cared for the Dead in Two World Wars. He has written extensively on aspects of First World War and interwar German history including A Deadly Legacy: German Jews and the Great War (2017); The German Jewish-Soldiers of the First World War in History and Memory (2011); and with Roland Clark: European Fascist Movements: A Sourcebook (2023).
Almost 5,000 Germans killed in the two world wars are buried on Cannock Chase in the UK’s only German military cemetery. At first glance, the burial ground appears to be very similar to its Commonwealth War Graves neighbour, only this time for the enemy dead. However, there are two peculiarities to the German Military Cemetery, which are the focus of this talk. First, the site was only dedicated in 1967, some 50 years after the first wartime deaths. Therefore, there is a large pre-history that has to be explored. Second, the term ‘German’ fails to capture the wide variety of people buried within the cemetery’s boundaries. Nazi war criminals rest alongside refugees, while Dutch, Ukrainian and Romanians lie with men from Berlin, Bremen and Bonn. In short, this talk lifts the lid on some of the complexities involved in ‘Burying the Enemy’.
A copy of his new book "Burying the Enemy: The Story of Those who Cared for the Dead in Two World War" is available from the publisher at Yale University Press at : https://yalebooks.co.uk/november-2025-offer/ . Yale University Press currently has 50% off history books in November through its site, and Amazon price may be lower still.
