War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators' quarters, photo Fundacja Pomoc Polakom na Wschodzie, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators\' quarters
War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators' quarters, photo Fundacja Pomoc Polakom na Wschodzie, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators\' quarters
War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators' quarters, photo Fundacja Pomoc Polakom na Wschodzie, 2021
Licencja: all rights reserved
Fotografia przedstawiająca War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators\' quarters
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ID: WOJ-000334-W (BY-0997)

War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators' quarters

ID: WOJ-000334-W (BY-0997)

War quarters in the old Catholic cemetery, also known as the aviators' quarters

During the First World War, a military quarter was established in the municipal cemetery on the former Grazyna Street. It was situated deep within the necropolis. The oldest graves, from 1915, have not survived to the present day. The graves had solid wooden crosses, with inscriptions still legible in the 1930s. In addition to soldiers from the First World War, those who died during the Bolshevik War of 1919-1921 were buried, among them members of the Lida Self-Defence. Officers and soldiers killed in the battles for Lida in April 1919 and 28.09.1920 were also buried in the war quarters. In the 1930s, the remains of soldiers killed in the 1920 battles and the remains of more than 40 civilians, bestially murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1920, were exhumed from Bielicy, Loziny, Novaya Vileyka and the Lida region. In addition, airmen from the Lida garrison were buried here - the 11th Fighter Regiment was formed here in 1925, and in 1928 the 5th Airborne Regiment was created in its place. On each airman's grave there was a cross with an incorporated propeller and an information plaque. The last burial in the cemetery took place in 1952. - Lieutenant Jan Bałukiewicz, 88, was then laid to rest here. Today, there are more than 90 graves in the quarters, arranged in different directions around a tall central monument. The graves have different architectural forms, the central obelisk is topped by a sculpture of an eagle and has a plaque with the inscription: "In this quarter rest the soldiers of the Polish Army fallen for their Homeland in 1919-1920 and the pilots of the 11th and 5th fighter aviation regiments stationed in Lida. Honour their memory!". The renovation of the cemetery was carried out in 2021 by the Foundation in Aid to Poles in the East as part of a task co-financed by the programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage 'Places of National Remembrance Abroad'. In memory, it is also worth quoting inscriptions from two memorials that no longer exist. The first is a cross in memory of soldiers killed in 1919. - The inscription on it proclaimed: "For the Fatherland! / Here rests / 13 CZWARTEKS / fallen at the capture of Lida / on 16 April 1919. / Honour their memory / Comrades in arms". The second commemoration is a cross on the mass grave of Bolshevik victims. The poignant inscription stated: "The grave of 47 Poles, unknown by name, hostages from Bialystok, Grodno, Volkovysk and others, deported by the Bolsheviks and then mercilessly murdered by them near Lida in the memorable months of August and September 1920. O! Do not deny the posterity of this innocently shed blood, and do not otherwise, than by loving above all the Motherland, honour their memory forever!". These objects were not restored during the aforementioned renovation, as it was not possible to establish their original location.

Publikacja:
11.10.2022
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