BajaBlanca - 7-25-2015 at 03:07 AM
We are spending this week at KAL, about 4 km out of town, at Les's brother's hotel KALSKI DWOREK. It is set among trees and right near a lake.
Really peaceful:
There is a tiny beach just down the road that is packed on weekends and empty during the week:
A couple minutes away by car, is an old WWI cemetery- set up on a hill overlooking the lake.
This is the forest to get to it:
The entrance:
There are 2 signs, they both say that 344 German soldiers and 254 Russian soldiers are buried here.
THE POLISH SIGN:
THE GERMAN SIGN. NOT ONE FOR RUSSIAN AT ALL:
I DON'T SPEAK ANY GERMAN (EXCEPT FOR THE NUMBERS) BUT SINCE THERE WERE MANY OF THE SAME STONES AND ZWEI MEANS TWO........I THINK THERE ARE TWO
UNIDENTIFIED GERMAN SOLDIERS BURIED HERE:
THREE ON ONE STONE. THE 10TH OF FEB. MUST HAVE BEEN A BRUTAL DAY:
A BIG CROSS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE:
SFandH - 7-25-2015 at 06:37 AM
Blanca,
Do the lakes in this region freeze over in the winter? What's the water temp in the summer?
Grave markers
bajaguy - 7-25-2015 at 07:28 AM
Blanca
The first grave marker is for "Two Unknown German Warriors (Soldiers)"
The second is for an unknown Russian Rittmeister. I'm not sure what the numbers 1 and 35 mean. A Rittmeister is/was a rank associated with mounted
cavalry or mounted troops comparable to a Captain. It appears from the marker the Rittmeister was interred by the Germans
On the German marked headstones the first line is their rank, the second line is their name, the third line is their military unit and the fourth line
is the date of death
Hook - 7-25-2015 at 07:55 AM
It is astounding to realize that so much of the history of Europe, is the history of warfare. Even the great renaissances in art or science bear the
mark of warfare; through motivation or outright financing.
So many different cultures living in a relatively small area (with an uneven distribution of natural resources); I guess warfare has been inevitable
over there, given the nature of mankind.
We are really very fortunate to live in the time we do. So many think the world is going to hell in a hand-basket; I look at history before 1950 and
can barely find a period I would want to live in.
Oh sure, if you were rich and able to insulate yourself from plagues and wars, it was great. But that was a small percentage of people.
The 20th Century was an absolute disaster for Europe. Heck, it makes even the Black Death seem not so bad.
End of wistful musings on the nature of humans............
BajaBlanca - 7-25-2015 at 12:41 PM
The lakes DO freeze over - we are far far north and there is a lot of snow here in winter.
I agree with you about living in the past. How horrid it must've been. So many died on the 10th of February -imagine: freezing weather and a war,
probably no food, no warmth....ughhhhhhhhhh
Thanks for explaining the gravestones bajaguy. I know the Poles hate the Russians with a passion, but you would think the graves might be sacred.
