Tangerhütte
In 1948, the Belgians, French and English exhumed their citizens and buried them in their homelands. Italians did the same in late autumn of 1970. The remaining graves were arranged and moved to form a single compact war plot. Partially rotten wooden crosses and individual graves disappeared together with personal data. A large oak cross was placed on the edge of the plot. It was then replaced by a grey stone with the word "Ostrzegamy" ["Be warned"] carved on it. The graves that remained in the plot include 197 Polish, 53 Serbian and 1 Czech prisoner of war grave. On the 8th of May 1971, the Ambassador of the Polish People's Republic in East Berlin, accompanied by representatives of the GDR, solemnly unveiled a concrete monument with two cast-iron plaques, with an inscription in German on the left side and in Polish on the right:
OFICEROM I ŻOŁNIERZOM POLSKIM ZMARŁYM W NIEWOLI FASZYSTOWSKIEJ W LATACH 1940–1945
RODACY
[TO POLISH OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN FASCIST CAPTIVITY IN YEARS 1940-1945
COMPATRIOTS]
In the middle of the monument, on a low concrete pedestal, there is the emblem of the Polish People's Republic and slabs with the eagle of cast iron. The whole was complemented by two rows of rectangular concrete frames symbolising the previously levelled graves, originally filled with soil, on which grass was sown. Over time, the frames were filled with gravel, probably to save money or to facilitate work.
In July 2008, decision was made to erect a six-metre high concrete monument, consisting of appropriately arranged blocks and hexagons forming the shape of crosses. The emblem of the Polish People's Republic was also exchanged for the present emblem of Poland, concrete coffers were removed and replaced with slabs bearing the names of the soldiers buried there. In the presence of the authorities of Saxony-Anhalt, the mayor of Tangerhütte, representatives of the families of the buried Polish prisoners of war and a representative of the Polish embassy in Berlin, a ceremonial unveiling of the reconstructed war plot took place on the 16th of November 2008.
