German Waldheim Cemetery

"Waldheim Cemetery" redirects here. For other uses, see Waldheim Cemetery (disambiguation).

Waldheim Cemetery, Chicago, in May 1986 during ceremonies commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Haymarket Affair

Emma Goldman's grave in German Waldheim Cemetery. Jo Davidson was the sculptor of the bas relief

German Waldheim Cemetery, also known as Waldheim Cemetery, was a cemetery in Forest Park, a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. It was originally founded in 1873 as a non-religion specific cemetery, where Freemasons, Roma, and German-speaking immigrants to Chicago could be buried without regard for religious affiliation. In 1969, it merged with the adjacent Forest Home Cemetery, with the combined cemetery being called Forest Home.

Because it was unassociated with any religious institution, it was chosen as burial place of the Haymarket Martyrs. After they were buried there, the cemetery became a place of pilgrimage for anarchists and leftists. Because of its role as a pilgrimage site for the international left, the Haymarket memorial there was the first cemetery memorial to be designated a National Historic Landmark.^{[citation needed]} The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument by sculptor Albert Weinert is located here.

In homage to the Haymarket Martyrs, many other anarchists and socialists are buried at Waldheim, including:

• Joseph Dietzgen
• Voltairine de Cleyre
• Emma Goldman
• Ben Reitman
• Lucy Parsons
• William Z. Foster
• Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
• Eugene Dennis
• Franklin Rosemont
• Raya Dunayevskaya

The English part of the cemetery—that is, Forest Home—includes the graves of:

• Billy Sunday
• Samuel Gompers

External links

• Forest Home Cemetery

See also

Cemeteries in Chicago

• Acacia Park Cemetery
• Bohemian National Cemetery
• Graceland Cemetery
• Mount Olivet Cemetery
• Oak Woods Cemetery
• Rosehill Cemetery
• Westlawn Cemetery