I remember when I was a little girl, my mom telling me about my grandmother’s two brothers who had perished in World War 1. Sailor Harold Knott had been lost at sea, and Private Cecil James Knott died in a prisoner of war camp, both in the same year. A terrible truth for the family to bear, they were a mere 18 and 19 years old.  It wasn’t something my grandmother talked about, but it always remained with me. If my mom hadn’t told me, I don’t think I ever would have known.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Europe with my husband, brother Jamie and sister-in-law Lisa.  Cleaning out my phone in preparation for our trip, I discovered an article that I had saved some time ago and had completely forgotten about. It was a historical document compiled by Alistair Rice for The Rooms about Private Cecil James Knott from Burgeo, Newfoundland, my grandmother’s brother.  It detailed his journey overseas, his family from Burgeo and his final resting place in Cologne Southern Cemetery in Cologne, Germany.  Private Knott died and was buried in Mulheim prison camp in 1917 and was repatriated to Cologne Southern Cemetery in 1924 along with many other British Commonwealth servicemen.  It was pure luck that I had come across this article at this moment, as Cologne was to be one of the stops on our trip. The cemetery was a 20 minute drive from our port stop on that day.  Chances are we would never be returning, so this opportunity felt important.

Cologne was the second last stop on our cruise, and I was anticipating this port more than most.  As on most days, we had an excursion in the morning, and so our intention was to return to the ship for lunch and then travel to the cemetery in the afternoon. We learned that the cemetery was open until 8:00 PM, allowing us plenty of time to make it there and back.  So we headed out, in 34 degree heat, in an uber that was apparently without air conditioning, with a driver who could not speak English. But we were on our way.

Cologne Southern Cemetery covers an area of more than 61 hectares and is the largest cemetery in Cologne.  It has over 2500 British Commonwealth war graves, 1900 Italian war graves, many civilian graves from the bombing of Cologne in the second world war, (estimates suggest over 40,000), and is still used as a cemetery today.  It is a beautiful, serene place that looks as much like a park as it does a cemetery, with huge looming trees and pathways, individually gated sections and manicured lawns with flowers arranged at the graves themselves.  It is clearly a well-cared for place. Navigating the map at the entrance was no easy task and a simple walkabout did not seem like an option in a cemetery of this size.   We did however find a local woman and her family, and yes, she did speak English. They visit the cemetery often as her parents are buried there so she knew the area well, and when Lisa showed her the photograph of the actual headstone, she knew exactly where it was and even offered to walk us there.  Finding this kind, English speaking lady on this day seemed like more than just luck, it almost felt as though she was meant to be there.

The British Commonwealth War Graves section where Private Knott is buried is a large, open area with row upon row of graves, all meticulously cared for.  There is a plaque at the entrance that states ‘…an agreement has been entered into between the Governments of Germany and of the British Commonwealth of Nations enabling them to construct and maintain through their own caretakers the cemeteries in which their dead of the great war now rest’.   And they have honored that promise.  Standing in the centre of the cemetery is a monument with the words THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE etched into the stone.

It is a peaceful place to be.  We found Private Knott’s headstone fairly quickly, took some photographs and paid our respects, finding only one other with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment emblem.   Strolling amongst the headstones, we noticed that so many of them were in their late teens or twenties when they died, a sombre reminder of the terrible cost of war. 

We returned to the ship in an air conditioned uber this time.  As before, our driver could not speak English but we still managed a conversation of sorts along the way.    We miscalculated our drop off point and had to walk about another kilometre to reach our ship, but somehow that did not matter.  Being able to journey into this part of our family history was not only a highlight of my trip, but given how everything fell into place, I felt it was very much meant to be. There is no way of knowing for sure, but due to the fact that it was war time and travel was difficult and costly, it is likely that Private Knott’s family had never been able to visit his grave. I am sure my grandmother would have been pleased to know of our efforts to visit her brother’s final resting place.

Carol Parsons
Beaumont, AB