A Belarusian found his great-grandfather's grave in Poland, who died two weeks before the end of the war. And he brought his father there

Great-grandfather did not live to see the end of the war by two weeks

Alexander learned that his great-grandfather was buried in Germany back in his childhood. His father told him about it. According to the man, after the war, the family received notifications about the relative's death. Some documents with the approximate burial place and grave number were also kept. But Alexander himself never saw them.

Alexander's great-grandfather was born in Ukraine and went to the front from Siberia in 1941. Before the war, his son, Alexander's grandfather, was born. When his father went to fight, the boy was only one year old.

— So, my grandfather practically never saw his father. Therefore, almost no information reached us. And no one in the family was particularly interested in this story, — says Alexander.

The man himself has been passionate about family history for the past two years. He is interested in learning who his ancestors were, where they lived, and what they did. But very little information has been preserved on his father's side. At some point, Alexander decided to look for information about his great-grandfather online. On the "Pamyat Naroda" website, he found archival documents from which he learned not only the date of birth and death of his relative but also the details of his military service.

It turned out that his great-grandfather served as a medic, was captured, and then returned to the front. Alexander also found information about his awards and descriptions of the deeds for which he was awarded.

— I was interested to learn what awards he received, for what, to read about his exploits. I even felt proud to have such a great-grandfather.

Alexander's ancestor died shortly before the end of the war, approximately two weeks before May 9, 1945.

Found the grave independently using archival documents

From the documents, Alexander learned where his great-grandfather was buried. At the same time, the territory, which belonged to Germany during the war, ended up as part of Poland after its end.

The burial place was in the city of Chojna in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Alexander began searching online for information about military cemeteries. He managed to find not only their location but also a burial scheme. There are mass graves in the cemetery, each containing several people. The burials are numbered.

A few years earlier, Alexander's uncle and his family had already visited this cemetery.

— They showed a photo that they had been there, and that was it. No location, no exact whereabouts. I looked up all the information myself online: where the cemetery is located, how the graves are arranged, how to get there.

In 2025, Alexander first independently came to the cemetery with his wife. They were heading on another trip and decided to stop by on the way. By that time, the man already knew where to look for the burial.

Павялічыць

"Father really wanted to go there"

In 2026, Alexander went to the cemetery again. This time with his father and other relatives. The family was going on vacation to the sea then, and Alexander suggested stopping in Chojna on the way.

— I said: "Let's go, we'll stop by." I already knew where to go and where to walk.

Before the trip, the relatives prepared a plaque with their great-grandfather's name, surname, military rank, and dates of life. They brought it with them and installed it at the burial site.

For Alexander's father, this trip was especially important. For many years he only knew about his grandfather from a few family stories.

— Father really wanted to visit there. For so many years, he also only heard some bits of information. Someone told something somewhere.

"All monuments are intact, graves are numbered"

Alexander also spoke about the condition of the military cemetery in Chojna. According to him, it noticeably differs from the picture sometimes shown by Belarusian state media when reporting on the attitude towards Soviet military burials in Poland.

Павялічыць

The man visited the cemetery for two years in a row and noted that the territory is well-maintained. The cemetery is clean, and the monuments are in good condition. Alexander did not notice any signs of damage or vandalism.

— Everything looks very good. The monuments are intact, neatly numbered, and plaques are standing. There are even small plaques in Russian, dug into the ground. I came last year, we were there this year – everything is in place. It wasn't like someone poured paint, broke a monument, as propaganda tells – that monuments are being destroyed there.

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