The von Trescow Family Mausoleum

According to Paul Niessen, a German historian, plans to establish a town in Chełm were already in place as early as the Middle Ages. Over time, these plans were abandoned, and the village split into two smaller ones—Chełm Dolny and Chełm Górny.

In the central part of the village stands a 13th-century church built of hewn granite; opposite the church is a large complex of former farm buildings, and further on, by the lake, lies a 7-hectare landscape park.

On the church grounds stands the 19th-century mausoleum of the von Trescow family. An interesting story about Henning von Trescow is connected to this site. In 1944, the Wehrmacht major general was buried there, only to be exhumed a month later and cremated at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp crematorium. Von Trescow was one of the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Kętrzyn in 1944. After the failed attempt, to avoid arrest, von Trescow committed suicide the next day in nearby Królowy Most, staging his death at the hands of partisans.

The general was buried with honors in the family chapel in Chełm Dolny, but a month later, following the conclusion of the investigation into the assassination attempt on the dictator, von Trescow’s body was cremated in the camp’s crematorium.

The site, along with the lapidarium and the obelisk erected in honor of the residents of Chełm Dolny who died in World War I, was added to the provincial list of historic monuments in December 2005.