mgr Michał Czarnik

ORCID: 0000-0002-6064-302X

The topic of my dissertation is: “Cemeteries and graves from the Great War in the Podkarpackie Province. The state of knowledge, deanger, protection”

The main aim of the research, which will be included in the doctoral dissertation, will be an attempt to develop more effective protection of war graves and cemeteries from the period of the First World War. The area analyzed in the study, covering the present borders of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, was selected due to the complexity of the proposed solutions and cognitive possibilities.

Until the end of the Great War, the Soldier Graves Inspection at the Military Command (Command) in Przemyśl and the War Graves Department at the Military Command (Command) in Kraków operated in this area. Both of the above-mentioned units prepared cemetery cards / reports containing data on, inter alia, the location and area of the cemetery. Thanks to such information, it will be possible to try to locate forgotten cemeteries and war graves, and in the case of already commemorated objects, verify their actual range. The area in question is also important because there is no one complete study that would refer to cemeteries and war graves from the period of World War I.

As part of the research, the scattered archival materials will be collected so far, the thorough analysis of which will allow to show the current state of knowledge about the location and number of war graves and cemeteries from the First World War in the Podkarpackie Province. Comparing this data with materials obtained from units dealing with the protection of war graves and cemeteries, will show the scale of the problem of insufficient research on this issue, which significantly contributes to the destruction of raves and cemeteries from the Great War. The dissertation will show legal gaps in the protection of cemeteries and war graves in Poland, which may significantly contribute to their destruction.