During the First World War, several military field hospitals were located in Bruneck, where many wounded and ill soldiers, as well as prisoners of war, passed away.
As it was not possible to bury them in the municipal cemetery, the city authorities allocated a large area on the Kühbergl—a wooded hill south of the town—to the military command for the establishment of a suitable resting place. A pioneer officer stationed in Bruneck, architect and engineer A. Bechtold from Bregenz, designed the cemetery in such a way that it blended harmoniously into the surrounding forest.
A total of 669 soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army, along with 103 Russian, 13 Serbian, and 7 Romanian prisoners of war, are buried here in individual and mass graves. The 77 Italian soldiers were reinterred in 1932 in the newly built mausoleum in Pocòl, and the 45 German soldiers were moved to the memorial at the Pordoi Pass.
From the Second World War, 19 German soldiers who lost their lives in bombing raids are also buried here, as well as one Italian officer and five citizens of Bruneck who fell nearby during the final days of the war and were brought here.
The war cemetery is cared for by a women’s committee, which tends to every grave with equal attention and respect.
