On All Souls’ Day, a Reader wrote to us, asking reflectively why the people of Bolesławiec do not care for all the burial sites in the city with equal concern. In an email to the editorial office, he wrote:
I am writing to ask you to address the issue of forgotten graves in our city and county. The media everywhere are “making a big deal” about remembering the forgotten graves of our compatriots in the East, while in our own backyard, the graves of former residents and even fallen soldiers are deteriorating and being vandalized.
On some cemeteries, local layabouts and young people hold various parties. This happens on the grounds of the abandoned cemetery on Ptasia Street and at the former Soviet cemetery on II Armii WP Street. Local residents walk their dogs there, and the dogs relieve themselves in the place where people’s remains rest.
Recently, I even witnessed such an incident at the cemetery on Willowa Street. The woman who was reprimanded saw no problem with it; she was outraged that someone had dared to call her out, even though there is a park nearby. I understand that one may dislike a particular nation, but, regardless, these are burial sites, and everyone—whether German, Russian, or Polish—deserves a dignified burial and respect for their earthly remains.
Bolesławiec once had as many as thirteen cemeteries. Some have not survived. The Reader described an incident involving a woman walking her dog in a cemetery near Willowa Street. There are actually two cemeteries there: Catholic Cemetery (from the beginning of the 20th century) and Soviet Soldiers’ Cemetery, where the graves of soldiers from the 7th Tank Corps are located.
According to the Reader, youth parties and alcohol-fueled gatherings take place at the Old Evangelical Cemetery on Ptasia Street. An Evangelical chapel, which no longer exists, once stood on the southern side. Today, the cemetery is damaged and desecrated. Quite a large number of original German tombstones have survived; the rest were used, among other things, to build the nearby fence. In the center stands a monument to German soldiers who fell in World War I, bearing the inscription: DEM ANDENKEN DER GEFALLENEN 1914- 1918 (In memory of those who fell, 1914–1918).
Our Reader ends his letter as follows:
The residents of our city and county follow the “logic of Kale”—demanding that others respect the graves of their loved ones while simultaneously vandalizing and disrespecting the graves of other nations left here. By the measure we use, we will be measured. It is a sad conclusion, but perhaps we will notice this problem, because it is also a measure of our culture and humanity.
Thirteen Cemeteries of Bolesławiec
You can read about the city’s necropolises in the article “Thirteen Cemeteries of Bolesławiec” from Głos Bolesławca, which we reprinted in 2009.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)