News

From time to time there have been happening acts of vandalism at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice: in the cemeteries, on the monuments, as well as the site of the former camps. It is difficult to comprehend. It doesn't speak well of us as contemporary people. However, what happened in November this year at the cemetery, which we call the Soviet Prisoner-of-War Cemetery, and where at the highest point stands the Monument to the Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War dedicated to all the soldiers held in German captivity at Lamsdorf, is unprecedented. This time, the attention of thieves-vandals was drawn to the surface of the square next to the cemetery and its several-hundred-metre-long fence, which has been there since the necropolis was given its present form, i.e. 1964, as well as to the solid surface around the tall Catholic cross standing at the foot of the cemetery hill.

The first damage was done around mid-November this year. It was then when the paving slabs disappeared from the central part of the square, from where we moved off every year on 17 March to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and from the paving around the several-metre high cross next to the entrance to the cemetery. There was also stolen one part of the main gate at the alley leading to the Monument to the Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War and metal elements of the masonry fence in the section adjacent to the square, i.e. at the front of the Memorial. Yesterday, during the evening or night of 29-30 November, the thieves-vandals returned to complete the destruction. The other part of the main gate, the side gate to the cemetery alley and the remaining metal parts of the masonry fence were stolen.

Almost all the stolen elements (except for the tiles around the Catholic cross erected in the cemetery in 1992) are elements of the original commemoration from 1964. Their market value is nothing compared to their historical one, which is very difficult and expensive to restore. All this happened despite the upcoming next year 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the strenuous efforts of the Museum and the Council for Protection of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice, which was established by the Museum and which brings together, among others, all owners of the plots forming it, for the best possible state of preservation of the material remains of war and commemoration (the most significant expression of these efforts is the recently completed, expensive conservation of the sculptures on the Monument to the Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War).

We are asking everyone to help with apprehending the perpetrators and preventing further devastation. We ask you to provide the police with information on the devastation, and ideas on how to improve the protection of the war cemeteries to their management: the Łambinowice Community Office. We also look forward to seeing you at the Museum, as we believe that only such cooperation can positively serve the Memorial Site, for which we are all responsible.