Soviet Officers' Cemetery in Wrocław

The Soviet Officers' Cemetery in Wrocław is a wartime necropolis of Red Army officers who were killed or died of wounds and illness during the siege of Wrocław in 1945.

Who rests here

763 Soviet officers are buried at the cemetery, including 69 unidentified by name. Most came from the 6th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, commanded by Gen. Vladimir Gluzdovsky. Also among those buried are two German anti-fascists, Horst Viedt and Josef Wagner, who were killed on 6 May 1945 during a sabotage operation.

Layout and monuments

The necropolis occupies a triangular plot of 5.3 hectares between Karkonoska and Wyścigowa streets. Its main feature is a gloriette designed in 1947 by Roman Feliński, made up of five columns joined together on a tall pedestal. The main entrance is flanked by two ZiS-3 guns, and the side entrances by four T-34 tanks. Between the avenues and the main entrance are two identical sections divided into burial plots.

History of its founding

Construction of the cemetery began in April 1945, while fighting for the city was still under way. The necropolis took on its present form in 1947.

A name easily confused

The cemetery is sometimes called the "cemetery of Soviet soldiers", which is a mistake: those buried here are officers, while the rank-and-file soldiers who fell in the same period rest elsewhere in Wrocław, at the Soviet Soldiers' Cemetery on Skowronia Góra.

Practical information

• Location: the Krzyki-Partynice district of Wrocław, between Karkonoska and Wyścigowa streets
• The necropolis is open to the public
• Nearby, towards the city centre, are among others the Old Jewish Cemetery and Aquapark Wrocław