Z ziemi włoskiej do Polski. Cmentarz Żołnierzy Włoskich we Wrocławiu z okresu pierwszej wojny światowej i jego dalsze losy

Abstract

FROM THE ITALIAN LAND TO POLAND. THE ITALIAN MILITARY CEMETERY OF WORLD WAR I IN WROCŁAW The article deals with a little-known subject of the Italian Military Cemetery in Wrocław with the graves of soldiers from World War I. It is the only preserved Italian necropolis from that period in Poland. It was established in the 1920s in the District of Grabiszyn at the Italian Government’s suggestion. The cemetery includes the collective graves of Italian POWs who had died in German captivity in 1917-1919. The opening ceremony of this necropolis, together with its consecration, took place on November 2nd, 1928. The soldiers’ graves are situated in four sections located around a central point. They are also commemorated in the form of an obelisk. Between 1943 and 1945 another 48 victims of World War II were buried, among them some Italian POWs and a number of civilians. In 1957 their remains were exhumed and transferred to the Italian Military Cemetery in Warsaw. The only graves which remain in Wrocław were the graves of the World War I soldiers, among others of those who fought at Caporetto, the battle which started their prisoners’ way, finally ending in Polish Wroclaw.