Polish Cemetery at Monte Cassino
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Polish Cemetery, as seen from Monte Cassino monastery
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| Details | |
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| Established | 1944 |
| Location | Monte Cassino |
| Country | Italy |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Type | Polish soldiers |
| Number of graves | 1,000 |
The Polish Cemetery at Monte Cassino holds the graves of over a thousand Poles who died, storming the bombed-out Benedictine abbey atop the mountain in May 1944, during the Battle of Monte Cassino.
The religious affiliations of the deceased are indicated by three types of headstone: the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox headstones feature different forms of the Christian cross, and the Jewish headstones bear the Star of David.
The cemetery also holds the grave of General Władysław Anders, who had commanded the Polish forces that captured Monte Cassino. Anders died in London in 1970.
The Polish memorial at Monte Cassino bears the following two inscriptions
The first, based on the Epitaph of Simonides, reads:
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- Passer-by, go tell Poland
- That we have perished obedient to her service
The other translates from Polish:
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- For our freedom and yours
- We soldiers of Poland
- Gave
- Our soul to God
- Our life to the soil of Italy
- Our hearts to Poland
An anthem, The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino — composed on the eve of the Polish storming of the German stronghold — memorializes the Polish soldiers who gave their lives. The refrain is familiar to all Poles:
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- The red poppies on Monte Cassino
- Drank Polish blood instead of dew...
- O'er the poppies the soldiers did go
- 'Mid death, and to their anger stayed true!
- Years will come and ages will go,
- Enshrining their strivings and their toil!...
- And the poppies on Monte Cassino
- Will be redder for Poles' blood in their soil.
Gallery
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Orthodox and catholic gravestones at Monte Cassino.JPG
Orthodox (front)and Catholic (rear) gravestones at Monte Cassino
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Jewish gravestone at Monte Cassino
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Gravestone of General Anders at Monte Cassino
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ABRAHAM WURZEL MONTE CASSINO.jpg
The gravestone of the Jewish soldier from Anders army Abraham Wurzel
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View of Monte Cassino monastery from Polish cemetery.jpg
View of Monte Cassino monastery from Polish Cemetery
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Polish cemetery seen from Monte Cassino monastery.jpg
Polish Cemetery seen from Monte Cassino monastery
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Plaque at Polish cemetery in Monte Cassino.jpg
Plaque at Polish Cemetery in Monte Cassino
See also
Polish Military Cemetery at Casamassima
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cimitero polacco militare Cassino. |
