On November 1st – All Saints’ Day – Poles visit cemeteries to place a candle at graves of their loved ones. In the Netherlands, this often means that on this day, lights are also lit at the graves of Poles who fought for our freedom.
With this message pictures taken at the war cemetery in Oosterbeek where all Polish graves had one or more lights. It remains an impressive sight.
The Poles who died in September 1944 have been buried on the Oosterbeek War Cemetery. The Poles who were first buried in Driel near the church or in their field graves were also buried here in 1947. They lie at the back in a row left and right of the entrance. They are somewhat in the back and are often missed the moment you walk onto the cemetery.
The manager of the cemetery has now adjusted this. It is now possible to turn left and right immediately after the entrance and the space behind the two small buildings there is now more open. This makes the graves stand out more. Also, the grass field there now has a hard surface. This is because this spot under the trees was often wet, as can be seen from the green deposits on the graves themselves.
Below are two more photos and a short film impression that we made on this sunny day.
Video impression of the graves. More Poles are buried among the other graves, mostly on the south side of the field.
Our site ‘Polish War Graves’ is a fact. On the date that in 1944 the first Polish liberators of the Polish Armoured Division of general Maczek died in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, we publish our spin off from Polen in Beeld. We are still working hard ‘behind the scenes’ to make the site even better.
On September the 16th in 1944 the Polish troops crossed the Dutch border. One of the first to get killed was Jan Gąsiorowski. He died at Fort Ferdinand and was buried in the Kuwait Civil Cemetery. His grave can still be found there today.
The same day the division lost Bronisław Bucholz, two days short of his 20th birthday. His grave is found in Zuiddorpe.
Of the more than 500 Poles who found their last resting place in the Netherlands, the names of more than 150 have been included on this website and this number will grow. Currently you can those of the
1st Polish Armoured Division who died in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and of the parachutebrigade who died during operation Market Garden.
This website centers around the victims and their graves so most stories will be published on their own, individual page.
We use this blog for other stories related to the Polish contribution in and above the Netherlands to the defeat against Nazi Germany and the liberate of the Netherlands.
On Polen in Beeld you can find many stories (in Dutch) that we published before this site saw the light of day. Those blogs are tagged with #Bevrijding, Tweede Wereldoorlog, #Driel44 and #Breda44.
