Germany's war graves authority has signed an agreement for the remains of some 4,000 German soldiers killed in former Czechoslovakia during World War II to be buried at a special site in the western Czech town of Cheb.

The head of the German war graves authority, Reinhard Fuehrer, and the mayor of Cheb, Jan Svoboda, agreed on Monday, May 26, to build a military cemetery for the German war dead next to the town graveyard.

The agreement was hailed by both sides as an act of reconciliation.