Stare Czarnowo is a burial cemetery for German soldiers who died in Poland during the Second World War. in 2019, 1,183 dead were laid to rest in the cemetery.
Cemetery description
In Stare Czarnowo, the German War Graves Commission has established a large German military cemetery in the district of Glinna. The Polish community is located about 30 kilometers southeast of Szczecin. The entrance building contains books with the names of all the German war dead who perished in Poland during the Second World War. The site in Stare Czarnowo is one of 13 war cemeteries that the Volksbund has established in Poland since 1991.
Occupancy
26,715 German soldiers who died in Poland during the Second World War are buried in Stare Czarnowo.
History
In the fall of 2000, German and Polish soldiers fenced in the area with a wildlife protection fence and erected a large wooden cross together. The site was extended between 2001 and 2003 and up to 32,500 fallen soldiers can be laid to rest in Stare Czarnowo. The site was inaugurated on July 15, 2006.
In April 2019, a further 1,183 German war dead were given a final grave in Stare Czarnowo.
Special feature
On August 14, 2009, the remains of 2,116 people who had been discovered in a mass grave in the town of Malbork (German: Marienburg) in October 2008 during construction work for a hotel were laid to rest in Stare Czarnowo. The so-called Marienburg dead included women, men and children.
There had been much speculation about the dead and how they died. There was talk of a massacre of Germans. However, extensive investigations, including forensic medical examinations, were never able to adequately prove this assumption. The Volksbund also considers such a theory implausible. It is now considered likely that the dead lost their lives as a result of fighting, disease, epidemics, hunger and violence and were buried in a mass grave for hygienic reasons. Today, these dead rest in a separate cemetery in Stare Czarnowo.
