Remains of Famous Polish Resistance Fighters Found? Polonia Warsaw Legend May Be Among Them

A cemetery thought to hold the remains of 119 Polish prisoners and Warsaw Uprising fighters has been located on a Bundeswehr training ground in Altengrabow, Saxony-Anhalt, after years of searching.

Researchers from the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin say the site may include the graves of well-known resistance fighters. The list could include Tadeusz Gebethner, one of the founders of Warsaw football club Polonia Warszawa, as well as Roman Trawiński, Lieutenant Stanisław Drozdowicz, known as “Jastrzębiec,” and Andrzej Krasuski.

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We assume that 119 Polish prisoners from the 1939 campaign and Warsaw Uprising fighters who died in 1944 and 1945 are buried there.

Professor Andrzej Ossowski, who led the search, said the next step should be the exhumation of everyone buried at the cemetery. That could begin next year, although the work may take several seasons. Genetic testing would then be needed to identify the remains, while researchers are only beginning to collect genetic material from relatives of people who died at the Altengrabow prisoner camp.

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The next stage should be the exhumation of all the people at the discovered cemetery.

The site presents unusual difficulties. A hospital stands nearby, and the ground has been disturbed several times. After World War II, Soviet forces used the former camp as a military training ground. When they withdrew in 1994, so few traces of the cemetery remained that it was considered destroyed or lost.

Search efforts began in 2006. Researchers used aerial and satellite images, with artificial intelligence helping analyze the material. The project involved the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, authorities in Saxony-Anhalt, and researchers from Polish museums, archives and the Polish Red Cross. Stalag XI A held Polish prisoners and interned civilians from September 1939, followed by Warsaw insurgents, including wounded and sick fighters, in October 1944. American forces liberated the camp on May 3, 1945.

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The site where the insurgents were buried is exceptionally difficult.