Powązki

The 1st November is a special day in Poland. People visit the graves of their relatives and friends. They also visit the graves of those who fought for the country and other famous people. In Warsaw this typically means that they go to Powązki Cementary. I did it as well.

If you go to Powązki on this special day you must visit the graves of those who persihed in the Warsaw uprising.

You will find candles on individual graves but also these commemorising entire groups of soldiers. These ones were defending the Old Town of Warsaw.

You should also visit the site dedicated to the Gray Ranks, i.e., the Polish scouts fighting during World War II. Many of them were teenagers.

The victims of the recent catastrophe of the Polish government aircraft in Smolensk where 96 people died, including the Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife, also have their memorial in Powązki.

Some of the famous Poles you can meet there are the poet Julian Tuwim...

... the writer Ryszard Kapuściński ...

... the sculptor Xawery Dunikowski ...

.... or the war correspondent killed in Iraq, Waldemar Milewicz.

So if you have not been to Powązki this year yet, grab your flowers and go. The history waits there for you.