Military cementery

The cemetery is diversified in terms of architecture. Nearly 2,000 victims of the Second World War are buried there. The visitors may use convenient alleys which run amongst a field altar, a gravel square, a model of the battle, statues and graves of the soldiers. 1450 Polish and a few hundred Soviet soldiers – their estimated number is 250-400 – died in the battle of Kołobrzeg fought between 4 and 18 March 1945. The cemetery was founded around the time of unveiling the statue of Zaślubiny z Morzem [the Marriage to the Sea] – in 1963. Both places were designed by the same author – a sculptor Wiktor Tołkin. At the time, the inhabitants of Kołobrzeg focused on the development of the town as a spa town, and were in the process of tidying up after the war. It was obvious that this two-week period of 1945 in the history of the town will go down in history as one of the most important events, and that it has to be commemorated. In 1963 the corpses of the soldiers, buried in a number of small cemeteries scattered around the town and neighbouring villages, were subject to exhumation and moved to the cemetery ‘in Zieleniewo’, as it is called by the locals. The largest cemetery, which was a site of burial of soldiers right after the war, was situated by the lighthouse. The majority of soldiers buried there were Soviets. The cemetery has had its current look since 1980 when a Koszalin-based sculptor Zygmunt Wujek provided the design. At the time, a square with field altars and a statue-sarcophagus called ‘Za Polski Kołobrzeg’ [For Polish Kołobrzeg] was created on the other side of the statue of Chwała [Glory], present since 1960s and distinguished by a shield with two Crosses of Grunwald. In front of the statue-sarcophagus there is a bronze model representing the moves of tactical units and miniatures of buildings – the most important points of the street battle of March 1945. The cemetery is constantly growing in size. The bodies of soldiers buried in 13 mass graves and 2 separate graves of the second lieutenant Emilia Gierczak and major Konstanty Klimienko – a hero of the Soviet Union - are not the only ones. To the left of the altar seven soldiers of the ‘Pomorze’ [Pomerania] Army – prisoners of war captive since September 1939 who died in the then German Kołobrzeg in a lazaret – were buried. Next, there is a site of burial of the soldiers of the Home Army. On the other side of the square there is a site of burial of veterans, and exiles from Siberia and other victims of Soviet persecution who settled in the Kołobrzeg County after the war. There are also two graves of German pilots whose bodies were found in 1991 in a wreck of Focke-Wulff 190 airplane which crashed at the entrance to the port. The remains of the airplane and personal belongings of the pilot and the mechanic were moved to the Museum of the Polish Army. 

Not all the names on the mass graves are consistent with the truth, as after so many years the identification of human remains without the so-called dog tags was difficult. 

In the main section of the cemetery there is a site of burial of those who participated in the battles of Kołobrzeg, Lenino and Western Front, e.g. the battle of Monte Cassino. Despite earlier animosity, the veterans in Kołobrzeg form one organization that assembles veterans from all fronts. As long as the last participant of the Second World War lives, the military cemetery in Kołobrzeg will grow in size. 

The altar was built with the use of the stones from the Saint George Church, a subject of fierce battles. Although the church had not been completely destroyed and it was in a relatively good shape considering the contemporary standards in Kołobrzeg, it was pulled down after the war. 

By the site of burial of Sybiraks there is a memorial wall commemorating the victims of Soviet forced-labour camps called ‘Golgota Wschodu’ [Golgotha of the East] and a section of genuine rail tracks that makes one realize the suffering caused by resettlement to the East. 

The cemetery is adorned by well-kempt plants. The municipal cemetery, including the military cemetery, is cared for by the ‘Zieleń Miejska’ company.