Romanian Cemetery

The Val du Pâtre cemetery, located in Soultzmatt in Alsace, is the largest Romanian military cemetery in France.

It holds the graves of 678 Romanian prisoners of war who died from the hardships imposed by German authorities during World War I. Among them, 553 rest in individual graves, while two mass graves contain the remains of 125 victims who died from cold during the Steinbrunn-le-Haut tragedy on the night of January 27 to 28, 1917.

After the war, the town of Soultzmatt ceded a plot of land at the site called Gauchmatt to Romania by resolution on August 30, 1919, to establish this cemetery.

Inaugurated in 1924 in the presence of King Ferdinand of Romania and Queen Marie, this site remains a major place of pilgrimage. Each year, Romanian leaders gather here to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers.