Friedhof Murnau

Cemetery description

The parish cemetery in Murnau holds the graves of Polish officers who died in the POW camp - Oflag VIIA Murnau.
The German POW camp for Polish prisoners who were captured during World War II was established in the town of Murnau, which is located south-west of Munich. The first transport of Polish officers, taken prisoner during the September campaign in Poland, arrived at Murnau on 6 October 1939. The camp was created on the premises of the barracks of an armoured battalion built in 1939 for approximately 600 soldiers. The barracks were not yet finished when the first transport arrived. Initially, 700-800 prisoners of war stayed in the camp. Later, in September 1942, the number rose up to 4,000, and in late April 1942, there were 5,457 prisoners, including 5,114 Poles. The camp was liberated on 29 April 1945 by one of the American units of Major-General Roderick R. Allen’s 12th Armoured Division. The camp in Murnau imprisoned 4 Polish Major-Generals, 26 Brigadier-Generals, 1 Rear Admiral and 6 Colonels.
The victims died as a result of disease, harsh living conditions, suicide or they were shot dead, and their remains were buried in the middle part of the cemetery, next to the western wall. The entrance to this part of the cemetery is marked by an information board in Polish and in German. The burial section, or rather the alley, next to which 115 graves that have the victims’ names inscribed upon them are located, leads up to the monument that commemorates the deceased. The obelisk bears a memorial text dedicated to the victims and, in its back part, a plaque with the victims’ names inscribed upon it.

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