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ID: dok-000459-P/80687

Berezovka cemetery

ID: dok-000459-P/80687

Berezovka cemetery

Cemetery with Polish gravestone monuments. Information about the cemetery has been published (see bibliography).
There are two cemeteries in Berezovka. "The war cemetery of Polish soldiers of 1920, according to Lewkowski and Walczak, "difficult to find, next to a forest track, open area - a clearing of about 400 m2. On 19 July 1920, the victorious battle of the 78th Infantry Regiment against the Bolsheviks took place here. The dead were buried at the site of the battle and a monument was erected to them. After the aforementioned authors: "In the western part of the clearing, traces of four quarters with soldiers' graves are preserved in concrete frames. In the middle of the clearing stands a monument erected of stone blocks about 4m high, on a multi-stepped block plinth consisting of four monumental crosses joined together by back planes. On the pedestal of the monument the inscription: "FALLEN / 78 SLUTSK P. P. / 19 JULY 1920 / COLLEAGUES"".

The second cemetery in Berezovka is a World War I war cemetery. According to the researchers cited above, it is a cemetery "established on a square plan, the fence posts have survived, allowing one to determine the boundaries and size of the cemetery, which occupies an area of 400 m2. (...) On the northern side there is a large cracked boulder with an engraved symbol of the German military 'Iron Cross' entwined with a wreath. Next to it lie other boulder fragments on one of them an inscription in German: "DANK UND EHRE / DER GEFFALLENAN HELDEN.... "". It has not been established how many soldiers were buried in the cemetery. Of the "concrete square cubes from the non-existent graves-one named Georg Smitrikowski". A study by Ewa Prusicka on the website zabytek.pl states that the cemetery "was used secondarily for burials in 1939", and "Three contemporary wooden crosses and two wooden chapels stand in the cemetery. Two information boards have been placed in front of the entrance to the cemetery" (cf. https://zabytek. pl/pl/obiekty/g-213677 ). As Lewkowski and Walczak describe, "The cemetery has been cleaned up in recent years. On the axis of the entrance in the central part there is a contemporary metal cross and a horizontal plaque in German and Russian : 'HIER RUHEN SOLDATEN / OPFER DES ERSTEN / ZDJES PAKOJATSJA SOŁDATY / ŻJERTWY PIERWOJ MIROVOJ WOJNY'."

Bibliography:

  • „Cmentarze polskie poza granicami kraju” , raport, oprac. B. Gutowski, Warszawa 2022 (maszynopis).
  • Lewkowska Anna, Lewkowski Jacek, Walczak Wojciech, „Zabytkowe cmentarze na Kresach Wschodnich Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej. Województwo wileńskie na obszarze Republiki Białoruś”, Warszawa 2007.

Author:

Bartłomiej Gutowski, Dawid Mendrek
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