Golęcino Cemetery in Szczecin

Golęcino Cemetery is a municipal necropolis in the Golęcino-Gocław district of Szczecin. It is a closed cemetery: there have been no new burials in it since the 1980s.

From the history of the cemetery

The first cemetery of the former village of Frauendorf was probably established in the 13th century, together with the first church. In 1862, during the building of a new church (today's Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help), part of the old cemetery was destroyed. After the First World War a monument to the fallen was put up here, and in 1921 the site was extended to the north-east to its present size. During the Second World War a dozen or so French prisoners of war were buried here.

After 1945

In 1945 the cemetery and the nearby church were seriously damaged. A year later the authorities took the necropolis into municipal ownership and Polish settlers began to be buried here. The graves of the former German residents were destroyed, by plan or in practice, and three pre-war gravestones have survived to this day, the oldest from 1893. In 1971 the sanitary inspectorate banned further burials because of the high groundwater level, and in 1980 the cemetery was declared closed. Many families then exhumed their loved ones to other cemeteries.

Practical information

• Szczecin, Golęcino-Gocław district, by the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
• Nearby stands the Bismarck Tower.
• The cemetery is closed to new burials. The rules of entry and the condition of the site are best checked with the administrator of the municipal cemeteries.