The ceremony took place on October 4. It was solemn and moving. Former residents of the city and their families, who had mainly come from Wuppertal, attended, including Dr Gerhard Kaske, chairman of the Federal Group Legnica Association, and Baron Sigismund von Zedlitz, chairman of the Legnica Historical Society. President Tadeusz Krzakowski, clergy from the Evangelical-Augsburg and Catholic churches, representatives of the regional authorities and the City Council, as well as ordinary residents of Legnica, were present.
The Liegnitz.pl Historical Foundation, working with the city president and the Legnickie Przedsiębiorstwo Gospodarki Komunalnej, has gathered around twenty gravestones of pre-war residents of Legnica in the lapidarium. They were found mainly at the LPGK depot on Ceglana Street in the Złotoryjski woodland. They had been brought there from the German cemetery in the post-war years and then forgotten. Heavy equipment was needed to unearth, retrieve and transport them to a dignified location designated along the wall by the main avenue of Legnica’s necropolis, behind the chapel. Some of the stones weighed as much as three tons. The lapidarium was enclosed by a historic fence donated by the city and carefully restored by the foundation.
“We are not afraid of history and we know how to look to the future,” said President Tadeusz Krzakowski. “Here in Legnica, we are building and strengthening understanding between our nations and countries. We are turning prejudice and fear into trust. Legnica is our shared city and heritage. That is why we are restoring the historical memory and dignity of the people who lived here in the past. That is why I would like the graves of our ancestors and the reminders of Polish culture in the eastern borderlands to be cared for with the same devotion, and to be surrounded with the respect and attention they deserve,” emphasized the President of Legnica. He also appealed to the German guests to return the very rich collections of Legnica’s collection in partner city Wuppertal to their home, that is, to Legnica.
“Among them are a veterinarian, an official, a postal inspector, an upholsterer, a jeweler, a merchant and a pharmacist; there are adults and children. They represent various social groups among Legnica’s former, pre-war residents, whose memory we are restoring today—the memory of people just like us,” said Zbigniew Brzeziński, head of the Liegnitz.pl Historical Foundation, during the opening of the lapidarium at the Municipal Cemetery on Wrocławska Street.
Dr Gerhard Kaske, thanking the president and the foundation, announced a donation of five thousand euros for its statutory activities. “This is a great surprise for us,” said Zbigniew Brzeziński. “Every penny of this amount will go toward furthering Polish-German reconciliation within our shared European and Legnica family.”