They have been spread across various cemeteries in and around Breda for eighty years: the Polish soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of the city in October 1944. Now the time finally seems right to bring them together again. The Polish cemetery on the Ettensebaan in Breda, next to the Maczek Memorial, must be expanded to include fallen soldiers from surrounding areas.
“It is actually a wish that has been around for a long time,” says Wendy Dujardin, communications and marketing volunteer at the Maczek Memorial in Breda. “We would love it if all comrades could rest here together. That the men who fought shoulder to shoulder are also buried side by side.”
That sounds obvious, but it certainly isn’t. There was no agreement about this for a long time. In the former villages around Breda, such as Ginneken, their own Polish graves were proudly maintained. “That is understandable,” says Wendy. “Those cemeteries were created before Breda became one municipality and the people there felt responsible for ‘their’ liberators. That is something beautiful.”
“Notes are stuck on the graves with a call to contact.”
Yet the conviction grew that the soldiers belong together. “There is now broad agreement within Breda,” says Wendy. “Everyone believes that there should be one central point of commemoration, the Polish cemetery on Ettensebaan. A place where you can honor the liberators, together with General Maczek who is already resting here.”
“We will have to accept it,” says Merijn Cuber, who annually helps with the commemoration at the Polish cemetery on Vogelenzanglaan in Ginneken. “It is a sensitive matter, because for us these graves are a part of the neighborhood, of our history. They belong to us.”
Merijn himself also has a personal connection with it. Both his Polish grandfathers are buried there, close to their comrades. “That was their wish to be buried close to their friends. If you remove those graves, you also remove a piece of that story. That is why many people in Ginneken think: just leave them where they belong.”
The War Graves Foundation also does not want to simply violate the grave peace of the deceased. But a first step has now been taken. Permission is requested from the relatives of the Polish soldiers who are elsewhere. “And that is a very difficult process,” explains Dujardin of the Maczek Memorial. “Notes are now being stuck on the graves with an appeal to contact us. But many families no longer live in the Netherlands or do not even know that their family member is buried here.”
So far there has not been a storm of reactions, but there is still the hope that there will be enough consent to make the reburial possible. “It takes a lot of time, a lot of consultation and, above all, a lot of respect,” Wendy emphasizes. “Every step must be taken carefully. After all, these are people who gave their lives for our freedom.”
“We want one anchor point of commemoration.”
For Breda, an expansion of the Polish cemetery would be more than a practical intervention. It would be a symbolic reunion of men who fought and died together, but were separated for decades. It is not clear what happens to the Polish graves in the places around Breda. “We want one anchor point of commemoration,” says Wendy. “One place where you can reflect on their sacrifices, their courage and the freedom they have brought us.”
She smiles slightly. “It hasn’t happened yet, but it feels like the signals are finally green. And that would be a wonderful tribute. To all the Polish liberators of Breda.”
Polish war cemeteries in Breda
Breda contains the graves of 241 Polish soldiers who died in October 1944 during the liberation of the city by the 1st Polish Armored Division led by General Stanislaw Maczek. There are 161 soldiers at the Polish Military Cemetery on Ettensebaan and 80 at Ginneken.
The cemetery on the Ettensebaan is the largest Polish cemetery in our country. There are also the remains of soldiers who died during the liberation of Groningen and Drenthe, but also an aircraft crew who crashed in North Holland and was buried in Breda in 2005.
Both war cemeteries show white crosses and a central memorial cross with the emblem of the First Polish Armored Division. Information boards in Dutch and Polish are a lasting reminder of their courage, sacrifice and the close bond between Breda and Poland.
Polish fighters are also buried in other municipalities around Breda. An example is Ereveld Oosterhof in Oosterhout with 30 graves.