Dear Editors, I have been your reader for two years (...). I was born in January 1948; my father was already in Bolesławiec in 1945 – as it seems to me, he was the first pioneer of our town. As a bridge and road engineer – from what I know from the stories of my father’s acquaintances (who are no longer alive) – he worked from dawn to dusk rebuilding roads and bridges. He died in November 1949 and is buried in the old cemetery, in the avenue where the graves of the Unknown Soldier were located.
As far as I remember, when visiting my father’s grave, there were eight graves beside it, toward the avenue, which my mother and I always cleaned. Today, those graves have been levelled with the ground; only my father’s grave is maintained properly. My mother told us that soldiers were buried there. In the memorable year 1984, after the soldiers were exhumed, I saw a terrible sight: stones scattered about (one was lying on my father’s grave), as if after a bombing. We had to clean it up. It seems to me that someone was responsible for that senseless exhumation. Many compatriots are buried in this cemetery; they lived briefly because, like my father, they lost their health in camps and during the war.
The city authorities do not include people who were born here; they are newcomers from various parts of the country, and their hearts do not ache as mine does. The cemetery still exists because I cannot afford to move my father’s ashes, as I have been living on a disability pension since 1980. I would like those gentlemen to understand my situation and feel my pain when I look at everything that is happening to this cemetery today.
Thank you for this article.
Barbara Suszek
(née Matejko)
residing at 3/7 Chopina Street