Grave of a Polish-German prisoner of war in Eiganes cemetery, photo Stavanger kirkelige fellesråd, 2023
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Grave of a Polish-German prisoner of war in Eiganes cemetery
Grave of a Polish-German prisoner of war in Eiganes cemetery, photo Stavanger kirkelige fellesråd, 2023
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca Grave of a Polish-German prisoner of war in Eiganes cemetery
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ID: WOJ-000442-W (NO-0016)

Grave of a Polish-German prisoner of war in Eiganes cemetery

ID: WOJ-000442-W (NO-0016)

Grave of a Polish-German prisoner of war in Eiganes cemetery

Senior sailor Kazimierz Gajda-Kaczyński is buried in the quarters of Soviet soldiers at Eiganes Cemetery. He was a prisoner of war in Stalag X-A-30 in Hamburg, after which he was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Norway. He was shot during an escape attempt near Stieveland, most likely in Skjæveland, Rogaland County, and was buried with Soviet POWs at Åsen Farm in Skadberg (a suburb of Sola). In 1949, the remains of those buried were moved to Eiganes cemetery, with the Pole mistakenly identified as a Soviet citizen and buried in a plot together with 74 Soviet soldiers. The exact location of his resting place is currently impossible. The plot was designed by the well-known Norwegian landscape architect Karen Reistad. The plot is grassed over, a path paved with stone slabs leads centrally to a tall stone stele with a red star and an inscription in Norwegian and Russian. The text of the inscription expresses gratitude to the fallen Soviet soldiers in the fight for freedom and justice 1941-1945. The established names of those buried are placed on two large stone plaques located on either side of the path. The surname of Kazimierz Gajda-Kaczyński is written as: Kasimir Katsinski / Казимир Кацинский. In 2022, following the discovery of the identity of Czeslaw Szafran buried in a mass grave among Soviet prisoners of war in Oslo cemetery, the Krigsgravtjenesten (Service for the Care of War Graves at the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality) approached the Falstad Centre for Research and Documentation in Norway to check the war grave registers to see if there were more cases of misattribution of nationality to Poles who died or died in German camps in Norway. The Falstad Centre's research led to finding the name of a Pole resting in Eiganes Cemetery. Krigsgravtjenesten then issued a commemoration to Kazimierz Gajda-Kaczyński in the form of an individual gravestone of grey granite, located at the edge of the plot. The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage was instrumental in determining the correct inscription of this sailor and approved the location and design of the commemoration. The inscription on the gravestone is as follows: "POLSK SOLDAT / STARSZY MARYNARZ / KAZIMIERZ GAJDA-KACZYŃSKI / 4-3-1915 1-10-1942". A small cross is engraved above the text.

Publikacja:
18.01.2024
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