During my visit to Kraków in 2005, I went to the military section of Rakowicki Cemetery, where Polish, Soviet and Commonwealth servicemen who died during the Second World War lie in separate plots. The beautifully maintained Commonwealth cemetery contains the graves of hundreds of men from Britain and other Allied nations, including aircrew killed while flying missions over occupied Poland.
It is a quiet and dignified place, far removed from the bustle of central Kraków. The long, orderly rows of headstones provide a moving reminder of the many nationalities drawn into the conflict—and of those who died far from home.
A sign marking the military section of Kraków’s Rakowicki Cemetery, photographed in 2005. Written in Polish, English and Russian, it directs visitors to the graves of Polish, Soviet and British servicemen who lost their lives during the Second World War. The cemetery contains separate national plots, including the principal Commonwealth war cemetery in Poland.
The stark, cross-shaped Monument to the Soldiers of September 1939 and the Kraków Army rises above rows of Polish military graves in 2005. Flowers, wreaths and national ribbons at its base honour those who died resisting the German invasion of Poland and during the ensuing Second World War.
Crowned by the Polish eagle, the Monument to the Kraków Eaglets commemorates some 230 secondary-school pupils from Kraków and the surrounding area who died fighting for Poland between 1914 and 1920. Erected in 1926, the memorial stands among their military graves and records the names of these young defenders of Poland’s newly regained independence.
The austere obelisk dominating the Soviet military plot at Kraków’s Military Cemetery, photographed in 2005. It commemorates soldiers of the Red Army who died during the fighting in and around Kraków in January 1945; more than 1,500 Soviet servicemen lie in the surrounding graves.
A Soviet soldier carrying a military standard and submachine gun forms part of the Red Army Monument at Kraków’s Military Cemetery. Originally erected beside the Barbican after the Second World War, the memorial was transferred to the Soviet military plot on Jana Prandoty Street in 1997, together with the remains of 19 Soviet soldiers. Photographed in 2005.
The memorial to Sapper Richard Altmann, a Jewish volunteer who enlisted in Palestine to serve with the Royal Engineers and died on 11 March 1943. Son of Hugo and Margarete Altmann, he was originally buried in the Jewish cemetery at Königshütte—now Chorzów—but the precise location of his grave was subsequently lost. This special headstone at Rakowicki Cemetery, bearing the Star of David, preserves his name and story.
The headstone of Sapper N. R. Manicom of the Royal Engineers, who died on 18 June 1940 at only 22 years of age. Beneath the Royal Engineers badge, his family chose a particularly moving inscription: “Went the day well? We died and never knew; but, well or ill, England, we died for you.”
The headstone of Sergeant J. Winter, a Royal Air Force flight engineer who died on 15 August 1944. His grave is among those of hundreds of Commonwealth airmen and servicemen gathered at Rakowicki Cemetery from burial sites across Poland after the war.
Sergeant G. T. Robinson served as the air bomber aboard a South African Air Force B-24 Liberator operating with No. 31 Squadron. He and his South African crewmates were killed on the night of 16–17 August 1944 while flying the long and hazardous mission from Italy to deliver supplies to the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising. Photographed at Rakowicki Cemetery in 2005.
Orderly rows of Commonwealth headstones at Rakowicki Cemetery, photographed in 2005. Prominent in the foreground are the graves of South African and British airmen killed on 15 and 17 August 1944 while flying hazardous supply missions from Italy to the Polish resistance during the Warsaw Uprising. The grouped headstones bring together crewmates who served and died aboard the same aircraft.
The headstone of Polish airman Józef Witek, wireless operator aboard Liberator KG890 of No. 1586 Polish Special Duties Flight. Returning from a successful supply drop to the Warsaw insurgents on the night of 14–15 August 1944, the aircraft was attacked by a German night fighter and crashed near Bochnia, killing its entire seven-man crew. Witek was awarded the Virtuti Militari and the Cross of Valour three times. Photographed in 2005.