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Military cemetery in Warsaw, Poland

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Powązki Military Cemetery
Entrance to the Powązki Military Cemetery

Details
Established	1912
Location	Warsaw
Country	Poland
Type	Public
Size	24 ha
Website	Official website
Find a Grave	Powązki Military Cemetery

Powązki Military Cemetery (Polish pronunciation: [pɔˈvɔ̃skʲi]; Polish: Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach) is an old military cemetery located in the Żoliborz district, western part of Warsaw, Poland. The cemetery is often confused with the older Powązki Cemetery, known colloquially as "Old Powązki". The Old Powązki cemetery is located to the south-east of the military cemetery.

The military cemetery holds the graves of many who have fought and died for their country since the early 19th century, including a large number involved in the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, the September 1939 Campaign, and the ill-fated 1944 Warsaw Uprising against Nazi Germany.

History

It was founded in 1912 as an annex to the Catholic cemetery, but after Poland regained independence in 1918, it became the state cemetery, where some of the most notable people of the period were buried, regardless of their faith.

A large part of the cemetery is occupied by graves of Polish soldiers who died in the Warsaw Uprising. Most of the graves were exhumed between 1945 and 1953 from the streets of Warsaw. In many cases, the names of the soldiers remain unknown, and the graves are marked only by the Polish Red Cross identification number. Until the early 1950s, brothers-in-arms of many dead soldiers organised exhumations of their colleagues on their own, and there are many quarters where soldiers of specific units are buried. Also in the cemetery are several mass graves of (mostly unknown) civilian victims of the German terror during World War II, especially during the Warsaw Uprising. There are mass graves of political prisoners executed during the Stalinist period, which lie under the graves of Communist figures. It took a change in the law to enable researchers to begin the recovery of these remains. As of August 2015, that work was ongoing.

In 1964, communist authorities renamed the cemetery to "Communal Cemetery". The traditional name was restored in 1998.

Notable burials

Those buried at the cemetery include:

Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930–2017), sculptor
Henryk Arctowski (1871–1958), geologist and explorer
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969), composer
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński (1921–1944), Home Army soldier and poet
Władysław Bartoszewski (1922–2015), politician, social activist, journalist, writer and historian
Józef Beck (1894–1944), politician
Zygmunt Berling (1896–1980), general and politician
Bolesław Bierut (1892–1956), Polish President, Prime Minister and communist leader
Jan Brzechwa (1898–1966), poet
Jan Bytnar (1921–1943), Home Army soldier and anti-Nazi resistance fighter
Grzegorz Ciechowski (1957–2001), musician
Józef Cyrankiewicz (1911–1989), communist leader
Kazimierz Deyna (1947–1989), footballer
Xawery Dunikowski (1875–1964), sculptor and painter
Adolf Dymsza (1900–1975), actor
Wojciech Fangor (1922–2015), painter and graphic artist
Emil August Fieldorf (1895–1953), general and WWII hero
Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (1905–1953), poet
Bronisław Geremek (1932–2008), politician and social historian
Julian Godlewski (1903-1983), businessman and philanthropist
Władysław Gomułka (1905–1982), communist leader
Kazimierz Górski (1921–2006), football coach
Mirosław Hermaszewski (1941–2022), first Polish cosmonaut
Leopold Infeld (1898–1968), physicist
Stefania Jabłońska (1920–2017), scientist
Alina Janowska (1923–2017), actress
Wojciech Jaruzelski (1923–2014), communist leader
Jan Kapela (1931–1987), politician
Ryszard Kapuściński (1932–2007), journalist
Leszek Kołakowski (1927–2009), philosopher
Władysław Komar (1940–1998), athlete
Tadeusz Konwicki (1926–2015), writer
Stanisław Kulon (1930-2022), sculptor
Kazimierz Kuratowski (1896–1980), mathematician
Jacek Kuroń (1934–2004), anti-communist activist
Stefan Kuryłowicz (1949–2011), architect
Oskar Lange (1904–1965), economist
Tadeusz Łomnicki (1927–1992), actor
Julian Marchlewski (1866-1925), politician and revolutionary activist
Stanisław Mazur (1905–1981), mathematician
Grzegorz Miecugow (1955–2017), media personality
Zofia Nałkowska (1884–1954), novelist
Jan Olszewski (1930–2019), politician
Maria Ossowska (1896–1974), sociologist
Danuta Przeworska-Rolewicz (1931–2012), mathematician and resistance fighter
Marian Rejewski (1905–1980), mathematician and cryptologist
Zbigniew Religa (1938–2009), surgeon and politician
Michał Rola-Żymierski (1890–1989), communist leader and marshal of Poland
Tadeusz Ross (1938–2021), actor and politician
Leon Schiller (1887–1954), theatre director
Kamila Skolimowska (1982–2009), athlete
Walery Sławek (1879–1939), politician
Piotr Sobociński (1958–2001), cinematographer
Stanisław Sosabowski (1892–1967), WWII general
Tomasz Stańko (1942–2018), jazz musician
Henryk Stażewski (1894–1988), painter
Aleksander Sulkiewicz (1867–1916), politician
Jerzy Szacki (1929–2016), sociologist
Danuta Szaflarska (1915–2017), actress
Irena Szewińska (1946–2018), athlete
Władysław Szpilman (1911–2000), pianist and composer
Leonid Teliga (1917–1970), sailor
Izabela Tomaszewska (1955–2010), archeologist, government protocol director
Julian Tuwim (1894–1953), poet
Jerzy Urban (1933–2022), journalist, publicist, columnist, writer, spokesman for the Polish People's Republic's government
Witold Woyda (1939–2008), fencer
Ludwika Wujec (1941–2024), dissident
Jan Zumbach (1915–1986), WWII fighter pilot and flying ace