Cemetery of Soviet Soldiers on Skowronia Góra

The Cemetery of Soviet Soldiers on Skowronia Góra is a Wrocław war necropolis, where around 7,500 soldiers of the Red Army who died during the siege of Wrocław in 1945 are buried, most of them from the 6th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of General Vladimir Gluzdovsky.

One of eight temporary burial sites

In 1945, at this site, adjoining a complex of Catholic and Protestant cemeteries, a temporary burial field was established - one of eight such sites in Wrocław and the surrounding area. In 1947-48, as part of the reorganisation of graves, the cemetery on Skowronia Góra was chosen as the final resting place for all those who died during the siege of the city: remains from the remaining seven fields were exhumed and moved here, and the necropolis area was enlarged to 4 hectares.

A shape from half a century ago

Between 1965 and 1967 the cemetery was rebuilt, given a layout that has survived to this day: four fields, each made up of thirty plots, and each plot containing twelve mass graves. On some of the graves, families and relatives have placed plaques with the names of the buried.

Łucja Skomorowska's monument

In 1967 a monument by Łucja Skomorowska was unveiled, made of various coloured types of granite. The individual elements of the monument correspond to the necropolis's plots - each has the names of the fallen carved into it, along with the number of unidentified soldiers buried in that plot.

Practical information

• Location: Skowronia Góra, the Gaj district of Wrocław
• Getting there: the cemetery adjoins a complex of other cemeteries in this part of the city; a kilometre away lies the Old Jewish Cemetery
• What to expect: an extensive war necropolis with four burial fields and a central monument, free admission