News

In the old cemetery

[...] When one speaks with silence,

a tear is born in the eye -

only to turn

into dust. [...]

                Edmund Borzemski

You are very welcome to visit the Old POWs Cemetery in Łambinowice to attend in a special ceremony. Tomorrow, on Sunday (29 September), at 11.00 a.m., we will bid farewell to 60 Italian soldiers (IMI - Internati Militari Italiani), who were interned by the Wehrmacht in Stalag 344 Lamsdorf and died there during World War II. Their remains, found after 80 years, will now be transported to Warsaw.

Let us remind you that no less than 10,400 Italian prisoners-of-war went through the gates of Lamsdorf stalags between 1943 and 1945. Due to hunger, cold, illnesses and mistreatment, some of them perished. At the end of the 1990s we established that 60 Italian soldiers were buried in the cemetery, today known as the Old POWs Cemetery, near the POW graves from the period 1914-1919. As the traces of the graves were effectively erased by time after the war, the location of the so-called Italian quarters has only recently proved possible thanks to the use of modern methods in research.

Tomorrow's ceremony marks the conclusion of the long-standing search for the so-called Italian quarters. Its final location in the cemetery is the result of the work of a team of researchers led by Dr. Dawid Kobiałka, operating since 2022 as part of two interdisciplinary scientific projects: ‘Science for Society. Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice' and “Archaeology of Memory”. Their implementation was made possible thanks to the funding provided by two ministries: Education and Science and Culture and National Heritage. The work involved specialists from various fields, including historians, archaeologists, physical anthropologists and forensic physicians, and was supported by volunteers - a total of several dozen people.

In accordance with the wish of the Italian side, the remains of the Italian prisoners-of-war will be transported to the Italian War Cemetery in Bielany in Warsaw and, if the families of the soldiers request it, they will be brought home.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all who have supported us in our work.