Crooswijk General Cemetery 2.31

Crooswijk General Cemetery is a cemetery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.HistoryAs in many countries, burial within city limits became illegal in Rotterdam in 1827. Crooswijk was taken into use in 1832, although the cemetery had not been finished yet. Due to the outbreak of a Cholera epidemic, burial space was needed quickly. In 1915 a new entrance was taken into use. The old entrance still exists.When the Walloon church was demolished in 1922 the contents of the graves were transferred to the cemetery and a memorial was put in place. When the Laurenskerk was severely damaged by bombing in 1940, many of the graves were also transferred to Crooswijk.The cemetery is laid out as a park. The cemetery is a general (non-denominational) cemetery. There are sections for casualties of wars, the resistance in the Second World War. There is also a fast-growing Islamic section.Many of the trees symbolise grief such as Weeping Beech, Silver Birch (Betula pendula var. Tristis, which in Dutch is known as the Weeping Birch), Dutch Elm (in Dutch known as Weeping Elm) and Weeping Willow.