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ID: dok-000786-P/96094

Lida cemetery

ID: dok-000786-P/96094

Lida cemetery

Cemetery with Polish gravestone monuments. Documentation was made for the cemetery (2 cards stored in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage). Information about the cemetery has been published (see bibliography). According to Anna Lewkowska, Jacek Lewkowski and Wojciech Walczak, "there were many cemeteries in Lida. One of them was a military cemetery established in 1916 by the Germans occupying the city. After 1920, the cemetery began to function as a Polish military cemetery (...). After 1939, soldiers of the Red Army were also buried in the cemetery. In the 1960s the cemetery was liquidated (...)."

After the cited authors: "The history of the Catholic cemetery in Lida dates back to 1797 (...) Until 1840 it did not have its boundaries precisely delineated. (...) Until 1865, the cemetery was multi-faith, and the dead of the Evangelical and Orthodox faiths were also buried there. The Orthodox cemetery was established after 1865 and is located on today's Sovetskaya and Fabryczna Streets."

According to Lewkowski and Walczak, the disused Catholic cemetery is located in the southern part of Lida, has an elongated pentagon plan and an area of 3.1 hectares. The oldest gravestone, dating from 1836, crowns the grave of Alina Dmochowska. It is a horizontally aligned granite slab. The inscription reads: "UNCROOKED FAMILY / TO THE FIRST-BORN Daughter ALINA / DMOCHOWSKY / ZMARŁEJ W 6-TYM R. ŻYCIA / R. 1836 7-BRA 9 DNIA (sygn. J. H(...)". As the aforementioned researchers write, the signature "makes one guess that the tombstone came from the workshop of the well-known Vilnius sculptor and engraver Jozef Horbachevich." Also buried in the cemetery are, among others, Ksawery Estka (d. 1855), an ensign of the Lida district, owner of the Dokudów estate, Włodzimierz Makarewicz (d. 1936), treasurer of the Warsaw Polytechnic, and Rafał Sadowski (d. 1863), Knight of Orders and State Councillor. After the cited authors: "The actions of the authorities have wreaked enormous havoc on the once beautiful, historic cemetery. Many tombstones of great artistic and historical value have not survived. Tombstones of emotional value to the local population have also been destroyed. This is what happened to the tombstones of two priests - Szkop and Bojaruniec."

According to Lewkowski and Walczak, "in the southern corner of the cemetery there is a separate cemetery of aviators of the 5th Airborne Regiment stationed in Lida and soldiers killed in 1920. This cemetery is now known as the 'military cemetery'. The cemetery is established on a near-square plan, with a monumental obelisk in the centre of the establishment and six rows of 91 graves and tombstones." Many of the gravestones have not survived, the damage is difficult to estimate. The cemetery is in very poor condition. As the researchers write, "despite the protection of the cemetery by the local Polish community, its fate is very uncertain."
A collection has been set up on the website pomagam.pl. As it reads, "in 2017, the Society of Friends of Lida Land in Gdansk developed a project to renovate the historic cemetery with co-financing from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland and obtained permission from the Mayor of Lida to carry out the planned works. (...) And suddenly, from 13 to 14 August 2019, someone damaged more than 30 tombstones that had been so carefully and diligently renovated." So far £440 of the needed £5,000 has been collected (cf. https://pomagam. pl/dlvugcjv )
In 2022, it has been reported that the cemetery may be decommissioned. As we read on the glosznadnienmna.pl and belsat.eu websites, "a cause for concern about the fate of the Polish historic necropolis in Lida has become the disappearance of a plaque from the wall surrounding the Historic Cemetery in Lida, informing about the historic necropolis and recent attempts to renovate it. "The disappearance of the plaque may mean that the cemetery will soon be razed to the ground," worries a reader, requesting anonymity, in an interview with us. According to him, several of his acquaintances who take care of the Aviators' Cemetery, which is a fragment of the historic necropolis, have heard from the municipal authorities of the city about the existence of plans to liquidate the Historic Cemetery in Lida and turn its area into a park."( cf. https://glosznadniemna.pl/58801/historyczny-cmentarz-i-cmentarz-lotnikow-w-lidzie-do-likwidacji/ and https://belsat.eu/pl/news/08-11-2022-bialorus-historyczne-cmentarze-w-lid zie-w-tym-polski-do-likwidacji )

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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