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Polish Refugee Cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish Refugee Cemetery
Polish Refugee Cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish Refugee Cemetery
Polish Refugee Cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish Refugee Cemetery
Polish Refugee Cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish Refugee Cemetery
Polish Refugee Cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish Refugee Cemetery
Polish Refugee Cemetery, photo MKiDN, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Polish Refugee Cemetery
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ID: WOJ-000166-W (LB-0001)

Polish Refugee Cemetery

ID: WOJ-000166-W (LB-0001)

Polish Refugee Cemetery

Between 1943 and 1946, a total of around 6,000 Polish refugees arrived in Lebanon from Iran, who had left the USSR together with General Anders' Army. Of these, more than 400 took up studies in Lebanon; schools were also established and numerous Polish organisations were active. Between 1947 and 1950, the majority of Polish refugees left Lebanon, leaving about 200. The deceased were originally buried in cemeteries in the towns where they had lived, but in 1946 a Polish cemetery was established in Beirut, where 137 refugees were buried by 2004 - in individual graves of 127 adults and in two mass graves of 10 infants. Among the more notable are Father Kamil Kantak (a prisoner of Kozelsk and Ostashkov, chaplain to General Anders' Army), the architect Karol Schayer, and the painter Bolesław Baake. Also buried here was Hanka Ordonówna, who died in Beirut in 1950. Her ashes were transferred in 1990 to the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, while in Beirut a commemorative plaque was placed on the fence wall. The cemetery was on the front line during the 1975-1990 civil war and was almost completely devastated. During the period of hostilities, an unknown number of unnamed Lebanese who died in the immediate area were buried there. Their mass grave is now marked and the victims are commemorated with a plaque. The reconstruction of the cemetery after the war was made possible by donations from the Polish community, including former Polish refugees. The Cemetery Committee, which was reactivated in 1991, paid an employee to clean the cemetery, while since 1992 this was done by the "Polish Community in Lebanon". The assistance of the Polish Military Contingent operating in Lebanon as part of the UN peacekeeping mission was also significant. At the same time, however, there were further devastations. In 2009, thanks to the activities and funds of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, with the help of the Polish Consul in Lebanon, a thorough renovation of the cemetery was carried out. New unified individual gravestones were laid, the surface between them was gritted. A cross was erected in the central place. At the same time, the cemetery acquired the status of a war cemetery. Since then, it has been closed to new burials. In April 2010, there was another hooligan devastation of 38 gravestones. The repairs were funded by the OPWiM Council. In December 2018. The Ministry of Culture and Heritage carried out repair work at the cemetery. The fencing was repaired, the gravestones were cleaned and protected, the inscriptions were authenticated and in some cases restored, and the gravel was cleaned and replenished. A small marble altar was also installed, which is used for ceremonies and services held at the cemetery. The work was carried out by the Armenian Foundation. This foundation takes care of the cemetery as part of a task subsidised by the programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Sites of National Remembrance Abroad".
Data założenia karty:
20.09.2022
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