– For more than 10 years, volunteers from Bolesławiec have travelled to areas beyond Poland’s eastern border inhabited by Poles in order to protect Polish cultural heritage, specifically Polish burial sites. They have already cleaned up cemeteries in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Kazakhstan and Lithuania – reports Barbara Smoleńska, president of the Bolesławiec branch of the Towarzystwo Miłośników Lwowa i Kresów Południowo-Wschodnich.
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She adds: – This year, they will once again travel to Vilnius to continue restoration work at the cemetery in Rasos Cemetery. Eighteen people are preparing for the work: students from Zespół Szkół Mechanicznych and Zespół Szkół Budowlanych, as well as members of the Bolesławiec branch of the Towarzystwo Miłośników Lwowa i Kresów Południowo-Wschodnich.
From July 15 to 21, they will work at the cemetery, learn about the history of the Vilnius Region and develop psychosocial skills such as building relationships, resolving conflicts and adapting to diverse situations.
To carry out the project, Towarzystwo Miłośników Lwowa i Kresów Południowo-Wschodnich obtained a PLN 60,000 grant from the Narodowy Instytut Polskiego Dziedzictwa Kulturowego za Granicą Polonika. The project partners are the Społeczny Komitet Opieki nad Starą Rossą in Vilnius and the Dom Kultury Polskiej in Vilnius.
Rasos Cemetery in Vilnius was established in 1801. It consists of Old Rasos, New Rasos and the Military Cemetery with the Mother and Son’s Heart Mausoleum. Rasos Cemetery was closed to burials in 1965 and entered in the register of historic monuments in 1969. New Rasos lies east of Old Rasos; residents of Vilnius and soldiers who fell in 1919–1920 are buried there. The soldiers’ graves form a section known as the Polish-Lithuanian Military Cemetery; among those buried there are members of the Vilnius Self-Defence. The first burials in New Rasos took place around 1847. However, until the beginning of the 20th century, the cemetery was not maintained and was not marked on maps of Vilnius. The newer section is 50 years younger than the older one. It is smaller, occupying approximately 4.6 hectares (the entire cemetery covers 10.8 hectares), its gravestones are less elaborate, and those buried there are mostly ordinary residents of historic Vilnius.
Barbara Smoleńska: – The project’s implementation at Rasos Cemetery will have enormous educational and developmental potential. It will inspire positive emotions and contribute to the participants’ development of skills. Their knowledge of the Polish cultural heritage located in the Vilnius Region will also increase.
Two training sessions have already been held before the departure. The first was conducted by art historian Dr Bartłomiej Gutowski and Aleksandra Dąbkowska, employees of the Instytut Polonika in Warsaw, who came specially to Bolesławiec to train the volunteers. The second training session was conducted by B. Smoleńska herself.
All activities in the project will focus on volunteer participation. Each day will be filled with work at the cemetery and sightseeing in Vilnius and the surrounding area. The sightseeing programme will be linked, among other things, to the society’s activities carried out under the title “Borderland Patrons of Bolesławiec Streets.” The organisation’s head says: – We will visit places associated with Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Józef Piłsudski, Emilia Plater and Franciszek Żwirko.
On their way to Vilnius, the volunteers will take part on July 14 in the ceremony unveiling the “Volhynia Massacre” monument in Domostawa, Jarocin municipality.
