Cloppenburg

Polnische Gräber der Soldaten und Zwangsarbeiter auf dem katholischen Friedhof St. Andreas in Cloppenburg

By mid-1990s the graves were neglected and inscriptions on the stone plates became illegible. After intervention of Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Hamburg, the plates were cleaned by the municipality and the tombs were tidied up. In consecutive years the tombstones were replaced, unified in style and they now have information on the type of military forces and the rank of a soldiers buried there. Tombs of the soldiers from General Maczek’s 1st Division are marked with the division's emblem - a Hussar lobster-tailed pot helmet with a wing, while the tombs of pilots were marked with the emblem of the White Eagle. Moreover, a commemorating plate has been placed by the plot and it includes information in German and Polish about soldiers and forced labourers buried here.

List of names of the soldiers buried at St. Andrew's Catholic cemetery supplemented with information from the archives:

Soldiers from the 1st Polish Armoured Division:

Lance Corporal Rifles Jan Smorąg, * 4.3.1914 Prussia, pow. Opatów, † 27.11.1945 [11.2.1946 according to the tombstone] in Bethen near Cloppenburg, R-C. Serv-Number 1915/133/I-7007, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Lance Corporal Rifles Ryszard Idczak, a.k.a. "Grot" * 6.1.1913 † 30.10.1946 in the British military hospital in Oldenburg, R-C. Serv-Number 1913/2/I-11889, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Rifleman Władysław Siach, * 15.3.1908 Chojnice, pow. Grodno, † 26.6.1945 [29.6.1945 according to the tombstone] in Meppen, R-C. Serv-Number 1908/81/I-25402, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Lance Corporal Dragoon Józef Kowalski, * 15.3.1915 Stare Bródno (Warsaw), † 29.7.1945, R-C. Serv-Number 1915/53/I-1284, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Lance Corporal Dragoon Jan Stanisław Stefańczyk, * 24.6.1910 Brink, pow. Dąbrowa, † 27.11.1945 Bethen near Cloppenburg, R-C. Serv-Number 1910/30/I-627

Sergeant Major Kazimierz Jagielski, † 5.10.1946, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Lance Corporal Dragoon Jan Łazarz, * 1910 Brzozówka-Chyżna (Rzeszów), † 26.11.1946, R-C. Serv-Number 1910/12/I-27321, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Piotr Gąsior, † 15.11.1946 [17.11.1946 according to the tombstone]

Dragoon Włodzimierz Łapicz, * 6.6.1924 Nowosiołki, pow. Baranowicze, † 6.3.1947 [9.3.1947 according to the tombstone], R-C. Serv-Number 1924/28/I-66237, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Corporal Stanisław Szlauderbach, * 1905 Delmenhorst/Germany, † 10.1.1947

Lance Corporal Dragoon Franciszek Winter, * 1921 Mlewo, pow. Wąbrzeźno/Pomerania, † 9.3.1947 [6.3.1947 according to the tombstone], R-C. Serv-Number 1921/191/I-65426, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Second-Lieutenant Flawjan Czaplicki, * 16.1.1909 Dębiny, pow. Przasnysz, † 13.1.1946, died in the military hospital in Oldenburg, R-C. Serv-Number 1909/7/I-660, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Dragoon Alojzy Oślizło, * 29.3.1918 Mszana, pow. Rybnik, † 30.6.1946 in Meppen, R-C. Serv-Number 1918/43/I-65456, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Lance Corporal Dragoon Roman Sandomierski, * 17.3.1919 Łaguszów, pow. Opatów, † 17.1.1946 in Holtinghausen, R-C. Serv-Number 1919/347/I-23800, 10. Dragoon Regiment

Władysław Fertala, * 22.5.1922, † 31.12.1944, Polish soldier

Lance Corporal Dragoon Wacław Lityński, *6.6.1922 Danilówka, pow. Zdołbunów, † 19.5.1945 in Br. Gen. Hospital No. 88, R-C. Serv-Number 1922/17/I-28557, 10. The Dragoon Regiment, according to the register, was buried in Cloppenburg, however the cemetery administration authority in that town did not find information on their burial.

Aviators:

Cpl, Mechanic Jerzy Podgórski, * 5.8.1914 † 16.9.1946

shot during a hunt in the woods near Ahlhorn, died in the military hospital in Oldenburg as a result of the wounds

Second-Lieutenant Bronisław Reder, * 25.6.1907 † 11.6.1946

died in a car accident

Cpl, Motor Transport Driver* 21.6.1911 † 5.10.1946

died in a car accident

Forced laborers:

Będkowski, Edward * 11.9.1925 † 9.10.1946

Fajgel, Stanisław * 13.11.1897 † 19.9.1940

Malkus, Stefan * 4.5.1909 † 15.11.1946

Misiek, Stefan * 10.7.1902 † 16.5.1943