Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów

The Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów or Cemetery of Eaglets is a memorial and a burial place for the Poles who died in Lwów during the hostilities of the Polish-Ukrainian War and Polish-Soviet War between 1918 and 1920.

The complex is a part of the city's historic Cmentarz Łyczakowski. There are about 3000 graves in that part of the cemetery; some from the Lwów Eaglets young militia volunteers, after whom that part of the cemetery is named. It was one of the most famous necropolises of the interwar Poland.

History

In 1918-1919, Poles and Ukrainians fought over the territory of Eastern Galicia that included Lwów; with Poland defeating the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. A year later, another war, between Poland and the Russian SFSR, was fought around the city. In the aftermath, the city ended up being part of interwar Poland, and the Polish authorities decided to construct a memorial to the Poles who died in the 1918-1920 hostilities in that region.

The necropolis complex was designed by Rudolf Indruch, an architecture student from the Lwów Polytechnic whose project won the competition. The most visible element was a domed chapel towering over the tombs below. Between the chapel and the tombs, Indruch placed catacombs where the exhumed remains of 72 fighters were laid to rest. In addition to Polish fighters, this part of the cemetery also has graves and monuments to American (pilots from the Kościuszko Squadron) and French volunteers who fought on the Polish side. Below, a semi-circular colonnade monument was built with an inscription reading "Mortui sunt ut liberi vivamus" ("They died so we could live free"). Two stone lions stood near a triumphal arch. The construction of the cemetery continued until the outbreak of the Second World War. The cemetery had almost 3,000 tombs, including 300 of the Lwów Eaglets, the young defenders of the city from 1918. [http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/8932/ Symbolic Reconciliation] , 20 July 2005, Warsaw Voice. Last accessed on 22 March 2006.] In 1925 the ashes of one of the unknown defenders of Lwów were transferred to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw.

After the Soviet invasion of Poland and the events of World War II, the city became part of Soviet Ukraine, and the Polish historical monuments located at the cemetery were devastated or neglected. Up to 1971 many of the sculptures were destroyed; the cemetery of Lwów Eaglets was completely destroyed and turned into a truck depot. There were attempts to crush the triumphal arch with tanks, and in the 1970s, bulldozers razed most of the tombs.

In 1975 the Cmentarz Łyczakowski was declared a historical preservation site and the degradation ended. Since the late 1980s the cemetery has seen constant rebuilding and refurbishment and continues to be one of the principal tourist attractions of Lwów. The Lwów Eaglets section was, however, not reopened for several decades, as the fact that many of the people buried there fought on the Polish side against the Ukrainians during the Polish-Ukrainian War generated some controversy. The issue has resurfaced several times in the Polish-Ukrainian relations; however, in 1989 the reconstruction works have begun, carried by local Polonia and Polish workers working temporarily in Lwów. Eventually the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów was reopened on 24 June 2005 when the Lviv City Council that initially resisted the opening [http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/2005/05-06-27.rferl.html UKRAINIAN, POLISH PRESIDENTS OPEN CONTROVERSIAL CEMETERY...] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline, 05-06-27 Last accessed on 22 March 2006.] finally gave its approval, following Polish support for Ukraine's Orange Revolution (2004). [http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=15458 Ukrainian authority agreed with Poland to open Eaglets Polish military cemetery in Lviv] , National Radio Company of Ukraine announcement. 14-06-2005. Last accessed on 22 March 2006.] President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski and President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, who attended the opening ceremony, agreed that the reconstruction and official opening represents a major improvement in Polish-Ukrainian relations.

References

External links

* [http://www.lwow.com.pl/campo-santo.html THE REDEDICATION OF POLISH "CAMPO SANTO" IN Lwów (Lviv) BY PRESIDENTS OF UKRAINE AND POLAND]
* [http://www.kresy.co.uk/lwow_eaglets.html In Defense of Lwow and the Eastern Borderlands]
* [http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id=70ca71e3-667d-45b5-a37b-4a0e1c58dc95 Transitions Online Poland & Ukraine: Where Eaglets Lie]
* [http://www.lviv-life.com/lviv/orlat-cemetery The Orlat Cemetery]
* [http://www.president.pl/x.node?id=6042902&eventId=2526680 President of The Republic of Poland - News on opening the cemetery]
* [http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2005/270501.shtml Presidents of Ukraine and Poland unveil memorials at Lviv cemetery] The Ukrainian Weekly, July 3, 2005, No. 27, Vol. LXXIII
* [http://www.lwow.home.pl/orleta/orleta39.html 1939 Polish guidebook to the cemetery]