For many years, repair and renovation work has been carried out at the cemetery. Its execution has mainly fallen on the shoulders of Zgorzelec’s local authorities, financially supported by the Council for the Protection of the Memory of Combat and Martyrdom, successive governors or—much less frequently—sponsors.
In recent years, the military necropolis has undergone renovation of its main avenues, while stone plaques bearing the names of the soldiers buried here, who fell during the battles for Lusatia, were installed along its eastern edge.
The funds allocated for maintaining the cemetery are not sufficient, however, to carry out the major renovation required by the entire complex. Therefore, at the city’s initiative, the necropolis has for many years been undergoing partial repairs and renovations, for which it is easier to find funding. The local authority is also responsible for maintaining order in this important place of remembrance, particularly for the local community and the families of fallen soldiers, who are increasingly coming to Zgorzelec in the footsteps of their loved ones. All this requires considerable financial outlays, which is why it is welcome news that the application for financial support for the renovation from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has been approved.
The Zgorzelec war cemetery, one of the largest necropolises of its kind in Poland, began to be established in October 1946. It owes its present shape to the third and largest reconstruction, carried out in 1967–68 on the initiative of the then Minister of National Defence, General Marian Spychalski. The author of the changes was Tadeusz Ptaszycki, MSc Eng., architect, from Kraków, while the documentation was commissioned from the Kraków Miastoprojekt studio. It was then that the necropolis was given the regular shape of a square containing 40 rows of graves (originally there were 42).
To achieve the intended effect, 578 graves were relocated, and the fencing and side paths were removed. Two main avenues crossing in the centre of the square divided the cemetery into four equal sections, while identical-sized concrete Grunwald Crosses were placed on the graves and marked with identical identification plaques. A gas eternal flame was placed in the centre of the necropolis, and 100 sandstone blocks were installed on the crown of the earthen embankment surrounding the cemetery, bearing the names of units that fought during the Berlin and Prague operations. It is precisely the cemetery’s crown that is now to be renovated.