The military operations during World War I in the territory of the former Western Galicia, that is, today’s Małopolska (Lesser Poland), were conducted with interruptions from November 1914 until the ... więcej

The military operations during World War I in the territory of the former Western Galicia, that is, today’s Małopolska (Lesser Poland), were conducted with interruptions from November 1914 until the beginning of May 1915. It is estimated that over 60 thousand solders died in the fights lasting, with in terruptions, six months and other 30 thousand died of wounds before the end of the war. On 3 November 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War with a seat in Vienna established nine Troops for War Graves in the territory of the Monarchy, of which three branches were formed in Galicia (Kraków – Western Galicia, Przemyśl – Middle Galicia, Lvov – Western Galicia). Kriegsgräber Abteilung des K.u.K. Militarkommandos Krakau, that is, Troops for War Graves at the Garrison Headquarters in Kraków was led by Captain (later Major) Rudolf Broch, and the conception officers: Captain Ludwig Brixel and Captain Hans Hauptmann cooperated with him. The task of the Troop was not only to tidy up battlefields, but also creating war cemeteries which would serve as an example for other Austro-Hungarian regions where war activities were still pursued, as well as to arrange war burials and commemorate the heroism of fallen soldiers. Within nearly three years, from 1916 to 1918, about 400 military cemeteries were established in the territory of the present-day Małopolska. The places of fights were divided into ten Cemetery Districts: I “Nowy Żmigród” (31 cemeteries), II “Jasło” (31 cemeteries), III “Gorlice” (54 cemeteries), IV “Łużna” (27 cemeteries), V “Pilzno” (26 cemeteries), VI “Tarnów” (62 cemeteries), VII “Dąbrowa Tarnowska” (13 cemeteries), VIII “Brzesko” (52 cemeteries), IX “Bochnia” (46 cemeteries), X “Limanowa” (36 cemeteries) and the Eleventh Cemetery District “Kraków Fortress” (22 cemeteries) which, as it was situated in the place under the command of the Fortess and, at the same time, was subject to the Troop for War Graves, was under a kind of a double superiority. Each of the districts was administered by an officer with technical or artistic education and an artistic administrator. Their duties included examining the area, supervising a selection of the place, a technical design, an artistic concept, ensuring the supply of building materials. In total, there were over people serving at the Troop, including drafters, photographers, various craftsmen, gardeners, as well as carefully selected designers, architects, sculptors. The people employed there were individualists favouring various artistic trends, originating from several important academic centres – Vienna, Munich, Kraków. The most famous of them included: a Slovakian architect Dušan Jurkovič, an Austrian sculptor Heinrich Scholz, Austrian architects: Hans Mayr, Gustav Ludwig, Emil Ladevig, Gustav Rossmann, Polish, Czech and Austrian artists: Wojciech Kossak, Alfons Karpiński, Henryk Uziembło, Adolf Kašpar, Franz Poledne, Leo Perlberger. That international team, designing and building the cemeteries, with a full respect, as well as the respect for the enemies, Russians, ensured a dignified burial of tens of thousands soldiers. The cemeteries created were rich in symbols, of which none is identical with others in spite of using the same architectonic elements. The idea of unification of graves was given up; instead, sophisticated cemetery solutions were employed. On the monuments, plaques with special inscriptions were fixed. Trees and plants with a symbolic meaning were planted around the graves. As a result, a unique cemetery complex was created in our land, which refers to many funerary traditions, with traces of Egyptian, Greek and Roman architecture. Apart from popularizing activities, publishing special series of postcards, stamps and cemetery medals, a special album was published in which all memorials were catalogued and described. It also functioned as a guide which would help the families of the deceased during their visits to the graves of their relatives in Galicia. In addition, special concrete signposts leading to each cemetery were provided. After the end of war activities, the war cemeteries in Galicia went under the administration of the Polish state. In the interwar period, some of the graves were liquidated, thus reducing the number of cemeteries of the complex in Galicia to about 380. Many graves were destroyed and forgotten in the period of People’s Polish Republic. However, since 1989, war cemeteries in Małopolska have been gradually saved and conserved thanks to state funds and the cooperation of local governments with the representatives of Austrian Black Cross, as well as other initiatives. The memory of them is also restored. In the Western and Middle Europe, there are many places of memory and cemeteries from World War I. They mark the lines of former trenches and are a manifestation of cruelty of the global conflict. They differ from the war cemeteries in Małopolska, since they were built after the war, concentrating fallen soldiers, unifying, creating national cemeteries where soldiers from enemy armies are sought in vain. In that context, the war cemeteries situated in present-day Małopolska are unique on the European scale, a testimony of humanism and respect towards the death of both own and enemy soldiers.

sztuka sepulkralna, sztuka sakralna, architektura galicyjska, architektura cmentarna, mała architektura, detale architektoniczne, chrześcijaństwo, muzułmaństwo, neobarok, renesans, kamień łamany, ... więcej

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