On 1 November, the day when millions of Poles light candles and lay flowers at family graves to mark All Saints’ Day, Polish cities created special sites where people could pay tribute to those who have died in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the prime minister also called on his compatriots to honour Polish victims of previous wars.
“During this special time, people who came from Ukraine cannot be forgotten,” wrote the municipal authorities in Kraków, which at the peak of this year’s crisis was hosting well over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
“With them and the ongoing war in mind, a special place of remembrance will be created at the Rakowicki Cemetery, where everyone in silence and reflection will be able to light a symbolic candle and lay flowers,” they added. The site was marked with a Ukrainian flag.
The historic Rakowicki Cemetery lies near Kraków’s city centre. Like other graveyards around Poland, it was yesterday filled with people leaving candles on All Saints’ Day, which is a public holiday.
#Krakow #WszystkichŚwiętych #cmentarz #Rakowicki Cmentarze w pierwszych dniach listopada – zwłaszcza wieczorową porą – robią naprawdę wyjątkowe wrażenie!https://t.co/Z7pJLtJc3Y zaprasza na specjalny spacer… pic.twitter.com/JAz7K49JKt
— Kraków (@krakow_pl) November 1, 2022
Kraków’s authorities acknowledged that Ukrainians, most of whom are Orthodox Christians, generally honour the dead by visiting graveyards in the week after Easter. But they noted that many, especially from western Ukraine, are Catholics who do so on All Saints’ Day.
Meanwhile, in Poznań, another large Polish city that has welcomed many refugees from Ukraine, rocks featuring the Ukrainian flag were placed at two cemeteries to provide a place where Ukrainians and others could place candles to honour the dead.
“In memory of the victims of the war in Ukraine,” read an inscription in both Ukrainian and Polish.
“All Saints’ Day is very important for Poles as an expression of our memory of those who have passed away,” said Mayor Jacek Jaśkowiak. “However, many Ukrainians who came to Poznań do not have such a possibility. That is why we have created a place where they can light a candle, place flowers, stand in silence and reflection.”
Memorial to Ukraine’s war victims in a Poznań cemetery (source: poznan.pl)
Meanwhile, the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, called on Poles to commemorate not only their own deceased family members on All Saints’ Day, but also Polish victims of previous wars.
On Sunday, he and his family visited the cemetery and memorial in Kampinos forest, 40 kilometres west of Warsaw, where around 2,000 Polish citizens were executed by the Nazi German occupiers during the Second World War.
“When visiting the graves of your relatives, let’s also remember to light a candle on the graves of those who fought for our freedom and for Poland,” wrote Morawiecki.
In Ukraine, Polish diplomats visited the burial sites of Poles killed by the Soviets during the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-21 and during the Second World War.
Main image credit: Patrycja Ćwikła / Zarząd Cmentarzy Komunalnych w Krakowie
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
