History of the structure

In 1958 the bodies of the Silesian insurgents were exhumed from an unnamed grave in a field on the border of St. Anne’s Hill, Wysoka and Żyrowa, commonly called “the triangle” by the local inhabitants. In this mass grave in 1921 Silesian insurgents who died during the German offensive on St. Anne’s Hill on 21 May 1921 were buried. They were probably insurgents from Major Rataj’s 8th Regiment. German authorities did not allow to place a cross or a plaque on this nameless insurgent grave. The grave was razed to the ground and overgrown with vegetation. The memory of it has survived. In 1958 (after World War II the area became part of Poland), exhumation was carried out and it was found that 16 bodies of Silesian insurgents were buried there. In 1958, in the parish cemetery on St. Anne’s Hill, near St. Anne’s Monastery, a mass grave was arranged, in which 16 remains of Silesian insurgents were buried, transferred from an anonymous grave in the “Triangle” area. According to the documents stored in the archives of the Voivodeship Monuments Protection Office in Opole, 8 remains of insurgents from neighbouring towns, including 4 from Gogolin, were also transferred to this grave. According to the documentation, a total of 24 Silesian insurgents are buried in the grave. In the 1960s, a granite slab with an inscription was placed under the gravestone made of dark grey marble of the mass grave of Silesian insurgents: UNKNOWN INSURGENTS / BLOOD FOR FREEDOM / SILESIA / WILL NOT GO INTO OBLIVION. On the marble tombstone - as it is to this day - there was an inscription: MAY 1921 / HERE REST 16 UNKNOWN INSURGENTS.

In 1989 the grave was entered in the register of historic monuments of the Opolskie Voivodeship.

Description of the structure

The grave of Silesian insurgents is located in the religious cemetery near the monastery on St. Anne’s Hill. The area of the mass grave is 10 square meters. It contains the ashes of 16 nameless Silesian insurgents. The grave is rectangular in shape. The tombstone is of dark grey marble. Below the insurgent cross on the grave there is an inscription: MAY 1921 / HERE REST 16 UNKNOWN INSURGENTS. On either side of the tombstone are contemporary rectangular gravestones most likely made of granite. On the tombstone on the right there is a plaque with the inscription: IN THE FIGHT FOR THE FREEDOM OF SILESIA / THEY GAVE THEIR BLOOD / LVIV CADETS. To the left on the gravestone is a granite cross.

Visitor access: the site is accessible to visitors

Author: Joanna Banik, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Opole, 23.04.2019

Bibliography

• Encyklopedia Powstań Śląskich, Opole 1982, p. 109 and 429-430;
• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, ed. T. Chrzanowski, M. Kornecki, Vol.VII, woj. opolskie, z.14. powiat strzelecki.
• Kossak Z., Nieznany kraj, Katowice 1958.
• Pomnik Czynu Powstańczego. Album, Katowice 1955;
• Pszczyński K., Muzeum Czynu Powstańczego w Leśnicy i Pomnik Czynu Powstańczego na Górze Św. Anny, Opole 1971.
• Teczka obiektu (Object file: record sheet of the National Memorial Monument, decision on the entry into the register, correspondence, etc.) [in:] resources of the Voivodeship Heritage Protection Office in Opole
• Wyglenda J., Plebiscyt i powstania śląskie, Opole 1966.