[2][3] The Golm is the highest lying land on the island of Usedom (69 m) and was a popular tourist destination prior to World War II.

On the eastern shore of the Swine river (Świna) refugees from Farther Pomerania waited for a chance to ferry across the watercourse as they fled the advancing Red Army.

However, a large wooden cross placed there in 1954 was immediately destroyed, and East German authorities forbade the erection of Robert Leptien’s sculpture "Freezing Woman" (1952) because it did not match the artistic perceptions of the communist party line.

While Leptien had moved to West Berlin his sculpture remained at his former garden and was finally erected at the cemetery without an official permission in 1984.

[12][14] After the Reunification of Germany the German War Graves Commission took over the care of the cemetery and opened an International Youth Meeting Center in 2005 with the purpose of strengthening and cultivating democracy in Europe.