Neuer Katholischer Friedhof

Cemetery description

The New Catholic Cemetery in Dresden holds several war graves burial sections, and the latest research has revealed that approximately 186 Polish citizens found their resting place here. However, in the case of 7 persons, Polish citizenship has not been fully confirmed.
Burial section ‘J’ contains the graves of 299 victims of World War II, including 129 citizens from Czechoslovakia executed on the Münchner Square as well as 5 Polish martyrs. They were executed in Dresden on 24 August 1942, and were beatified by Pope John II in 1999 (not all the remains, however, can be found underneath the memorial stone). This fact is commemorated by a memorial tablet that bears the inscription: ‘Here lie the Polish Martyrs: Czesław Jóźwiak, Edward Kaźmierski, Franciszek Kęsy, Edward Klinik, Jarogniew Wojciechowski.’
In this part of the cemetery, there is also a grave monument of 12 members of the ‘Black Legion’ (Czarny Legion) resistance movement group from Gostyń executed in Dresden in June 1942, but their bodies were not buried here. The monument consists of three large granite slabs lying in a horizontal position. Two external slabs have the victims’ names inscribed upon them. The internal slabs bear the following inscription in German and in Polish: ‘Glory to the heroes of the ‘Black Legion’ resistance movement group from Gostyń, guillotined in Dresden on 23 and 24 June 1942. The inhabitants of the Gostyń Land.’
Burial section ‘N’ (according to the cemetery records) contains the graves of 415 victims of 13 nationalities who were executed in accordance with the death sentence issued by the Nazi District Court of Justice in Dresden between 1939 and 1945. The inscription on the plaque mentions victims of 13 different nationalities. This information might be misleading, however, on account that almost 80 per cent of the victims were Czech or Polish. Additionally, this burial section holds the graves of 115 forced labourers and 2 prisoners of concentration camps. Some of them were killed in the air raids of Dresden. The middle of the site is marked by a brick monument bearing the symbol of the cross. Right in front of the monument, there lie two stone slabs. These commemorate the Soviet citizens buried here.
Section ‘L’ was also used as a burial site for children, and it became the final resting place for infants and children of civilian labourers from Poland and from other countries.
The war graves of Polish citizens can also be found in burial sections ‘C’ and ‘G’, though not all of them have been clearly marked.
The memorial plaques in burial section ‘H’ are devoted to soldiers who died in both World Wars, victims of National-Socialist violence as well as pilots of different nationalities. The site was renovated in 2008

Address details