Location
The cemetery is located at the edge of the forest, on the Beskid Wyspowy elevation of JastrzÄ
bka with a height of 530 m [ . [source: Wikipedia, 2038177]]
History
Soldiers of the Russian, Austrian-Hungarian and Prussian army were buried here, who died in fighting in the surrounding areas on December 8-13, 1914 during the so-called pawanowo-limanowska operation. The troops of Gen. Dimitriev's Russian Third Army were preparing to gain the fortifications of Krakow. The Russians occupied the surrounding areas as early as 11 November 1914. The contemporary commentators write: "Muscovites appear who, like swarms, take almost houses for quarters." Austrians who knew the enemy's intentions well, because they had a good diagnosis (including air), decided to attack The battle ended with the victory of Austrian troops, which stopped the Russian offensive towards Krakow and Silesia, which greatly increased the morale of the Austrian-Hungarian army. [source: Wikipedia, 2038177]
Construction of the cemetery
This is cemetery No. 357 of the X Limanowa district. He was still built during the war. It came to pass immediately after the battle of Gorlice, victorious for the Austrians, deposed Russian troops further east. Attention is drawn to the assumption used; in one cemetery, both own soldiers (the Austrian-Hungarian army), the allied German army and the hostile Russian army were buried together, while the same method of burial and equally representative tombstones were used both for soldiers of their own and enemy army. At the cemetery, a total of 260 soldiers were buried in 53 mass graves and a total of 260 soldiers, including: 92 Austrian soldiers from 1, 18, 24 and 25 gunmen and 45 artillery regiment landwery * 11 German army soldiers from 217 Prussian reserve infantry regiment * 157 soldiers of the Russian army An information board at the gate of the cemetery gives a different number - 246 soldiers. Most of the soldiers were buried namelessly. All armies fighting here were multinational. Poles also fought in them, in various armies, and therefore also against each other. The designer of the cemetery was Gustav Ludwig. The prisoners were mainly used to work on its construction. Great importance was attached to both the architectural foundation and its implementation, as well as to the implementation of individual details. Although the cemetery was built during the war, it was made permanently and solidly. [source: Wikipedia, 2038177]
Description of the cemetery
The cemetery has an area of about 1200 m and is located on a slightly sloping slope. It was built on a rectangular plan (with a slight bulge from the entrance gate). It is fenced with a wooden fence on a concrete foundation and concrete pillars. The entrance gate is formed by two solid concrete poles covered with concrete plinths and a wooden gate. Three artillery scales were embedded in these poles from large caliber bullets. With time, however, they underwent a rust-through and the fences were removed during the renovation of the fence. There is a gravel path leading from the entrance gate, branching out into two walking paths, secured on the sides with concrete curbs. In the back of the cemetery there is a large chapel on a brick stone terrace, which is lead by a stone staircase. Made of wood, chapel with a height of 13 m has a steep roof crowned with a cross. The roof is covered in the upper part with shingles, in the bottom sheet. The chapel has on all sides a low arcade supported by twelve decorative wooden pillars. Inside the chapel is a wooden altar with a cross. In the middle of the cemetery there is a stone monument in the shape of a mound topped with a stone cross made of one stone. This cross according to applications was made voluntarily by one of the prisoners of war. Concrete steles with names were built into the base of the mound. There are concrete pedestals on the graves of the soldiers, with cast-iron crosses. These are the crosses of three types, depending on the type of army to which the soldiers belonged. [source: Wikipedia, 2038177]
The fate of the cemetery
When designing such a cemetery, the Austrians counted on the necessity of its subsequent maintenance. Some elements of the cemetery require maintenance and periodic renovations. In the interwar period, the cemetery was still in good condition as new. After World War II, the importance of the cemetery in the awareness of the society and the then authorities decreased, because new, more recent cemeteries and dramatic stories of the new war came. The cemetery was naturally destroyed by weather and vegetation factors. It was not until the 1980s that the first world war cemeteries began to be looked after. Roman Frodymy is a great contributor to this, who was called the General Gravedigger of Galicia for a joke. In 1991, a comprehensive renovation was carried out at the cemetery in JastrzÄ
bka. Among others some old trees were cut down that destroyed the cemetery, all wooden elements were renovated, the alleys were renovated, the cast iron crosses were renovated, etc. The cemetery was again dedicated in 1991, and the delegation from Austria took part in the ceremony. Nursing work at the cemetery is carried out by school youth, who also annually organizes the rally in October with the "Trail of World War I cemeteries". This action was initiated by Tadeusz Olszewski, a junior high school teacher in the Trzciana commune. [source: Wikipedia, 2038177]
