The special prisoner-of-war camp established by the NKVD at Starobielsk in autumn 1939 had the task (alongside the other two camps - at Kozelsk and Ostashkov) of isolating officers in the uniformed services of the Republic of Poland - mainly Polish Army officers and policemen. At Starobielsk, the prisoners were housed in the buildings of a former Orthodox monastery. The detainees were not forced to work, but were harassed with detailed interrogations. The majority of the prisoners in the three NKVD special camps were murdered in the spring of 1940 on the basis of a decision by the VKP(b) of 5 March 1940. - POWs from Starobielsk were murdered in Kharkiv.

Even before the decision of 5.03.1940, several dozen prisoners of war died in the POW camp in Starobelsk (the exact number is not known due to gaps and inaccuracies in NKVD documents). They were buried in the old town cemetery.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the outlines of the graves and remnants of the metal bars to which plaques with the names of the buried were nailed were still visible in the Starobel cemetery. In the spring of 1994, remains were exhumed from this necropolis, scheduled for liquidation. Of the exhumed remains, 48 people were identified as Poles.

The exhumed remains were ceremonially buried on 21.04.1994 at the new municipal cemetery Czimierowka (Chemirovka). In November 1944. The Council for the Protection of Remembrance of Struggle and Martyrdom funded the construction and commemoration of the cemetery where the Polish prisoners of war were buried. The author of the project was Eng. Andrzej Rószkiewicz from Warsaw. The ceremonial consecration of the built quarters took place on 25.09.1995.

. There are 6 mass graves in the quarters, located on both sides of the path leading from the gate to the main commemoration.

On the left are 3 graves with the number of crosses sequentially: 7, 7 and 9. On the right are also 3 graves with the number of crosses consecutively: 7, 7 and 11. Under the main cross there is a plaque with the inscription (in Polish and Ukrainian): "Here lie 48 Poles / prisoners of war and internees, imprisoned / in the NKVD camp in the city of Starobielsk / Honour their memory!".