Liberation80: Thousands of Soldiers Are Buried in Svidnik and Dukla

Vysny Komarnik, May 7 (TASR) - The World War II memorials and cemeteries in Dukla and Svidnik (both Presov region), where heavy fighting of the Second World War took place, form part of the Dukla Battlefield National Cultural Monument. Thousands of soldiers are buried there. Historian of the Military Historical Institute (VHU) in Bratislava Peter Holik told TASR that at first the Memorial of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the USSR at Dukla with a war cemetery were built. Their foundation stone was laid on October 6, 1947 and two years later they were opened to the public. "A total of 565 members of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the USSR, who fell either directly during the Dukla Pass battle or during the subsequent liberation battles, are buried in the cemetery itself," said Holik. "As far as the memorial in Svidnik is concerned, its foundation stone was laid shortly after the memorial at Dukla was opened. That means, in early October 1949, and was opened to the public on October 3, 1954. The memorial is a large compound, consisting of four mass graves, where a total of 9,000 Red Army members who fell either directly in the Dukla Pass battle or during the subsequent liberation fights are buried," stated Holik. am