After the Battle of Normandy, one of the primary concerns in the region was what to do with the bodies of the former occupiers: the German war dead. As the Allied graves registration units left Normandy, local French leaders were responsible for the care of German war graves until the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, VDK) took over maintenance responsibilities in the mid-1950s and officially inaugurated them as VDK sites in the early 1960s. This essay traces that transition and argues that in the period between 1944 and 1964 it was necessary for Normandy and greater France to assume the role of host to German war dead in perpetuity. The act of hosting German war dead on French soil smoothed the conditions necessary for Franco-German reconciliation in the second half of the 20^th century.

诺曼底战役后，该地区的主要关切之一是如何处理前占领者的尸体：德国战死者。当盟军的坟墓登记单位离开诺曼底时，法国当地领导人负责照管德国战争坟墓，直到德国战争坟墓委员会（Volksbund DeutscheKriegsgräberfürsorge，VDK）在1950年代中期接管维护职责并将其正式成立为VDK1960年代初期的站点。这篇文章追溯了这一转变，并认为在1944年至1964年之间，诺曼底和大法国有必要永久担负德国战争死难者的东道主。托管德国的战争死在法国领土上的行为平滑必要在20下半年法德和解的条件^届世纪。