Cemeteries in Poland

One of my cousins just came back from Poland, she visited our ancestral village
and went to the cemetery there, and was told by a priest that from neglect
people are buried over. so the oldest date in this cemetery is from about 1910.

does this sort of practice happen all over Poland and all cemeteries in Poland?

we were hoping to find family tombstones, but apparently this isn't possible.

disappointed
Another thing which upsets me, if this is the case is that this is supposed to be
holy land, not to be desicrated, and if I am wrong , doesnt the plot of this family
member belong to the decendants of this family member?? would permission
have to be granted?

do they just take matters into their own hands?

I would understand if tombstones became destroyed by war, and that documents
no longer showed where they are buried, but if they are neglected, this is not
something I have ever heard of..

is there not any old cemetarys left in Poland ?

Often after ~40 years If no one pays and looks like no one clean It and cares, they bury another person in the same place.

Cemeteries in Poland are much different than in the US. They are above ground and the richer ones are made from marble. They are mainly maintained by family members. The cemeteries in the US are all even with the ground so the grounds-keeper can mow the lawn easier.

It can happend enywhere. Australians are upset with the Brits for losing the remains of celebraited and important person (forgot his name). His bones has been seen someware during grave shifting. There is an old cementary in my town, some of the graves remmember early XIX cent. It is good to visit more than one village cementary to see very old graves or ask mother and father if there was anything they could have done about it. After all their family was poor otherwise they wouldn't have to go to America. I only assume that the grave they could then afford was a heap of earth and a wooden cross - hardly something able to whithstand the pressure of time. Please note 1$US = 120zl in most of 1970s, in 1983/84/85 1$US = 600-750zl. In 1984 as a young employee I received 8500zl monthly - fixing grave then would kost very little. Years ago those poor pesants obviously didn't have the room in their heads to worry about such things, but their relatives - emigrants ... usualy think of themselvs as being an "upper class", should have thought of preserving something for thir children. What are your thoughts on that?

not anywhere, we have organizations here which stop this. these cemetarys are
blessed ground. 40 years is not such a long time, considering we have graves
in America dating back to roughly 1776 if not earlier.

yes, there have been larger companies trying to buy out old land-cemetarys
and in recent years, these companies have been stopped.

I dont see that it would be a problem if it was your own family member who was
buried in that same area, providing it didnt mutilate the previous family members
body.

in my state, which is a state law, that all deceased are buried in a vault which is made
of stone, and sealed to prevent other things from getting at the body.

but these plots are bought by family and consider a piece of land bought and to not
be resold or changed in anyway.

I was unaware that this is what occurs, what is the point of blessing this land for
eternal resting place if the land would be disturbed again after 20 years and you
can no longer visit your parents or grandparents graves to pay respects?


now were going to talk, what do u think we Polish did when we came to America?

lived the high life? NO WE HAD TO WORK LIKE ANYONE ELSE , climb the ladder
and bust our arse to get where we are today.. high life?? ha!

do you know how many suffered on the boats coming over? how many died on the
way to a better life? how many died when they got here??

do you think that disease was only in Europe (cholera) TB? if your children made
it past the age of 5 your family was blessed. it wasnt until modern medicine and
the fight against disease became apparent that people lived longer. but it was
not easy for the immigrant in the U.S. as many think..

But, they worked hard, saved money, some sponsored other family who wanted to
come. this wasnt cheap even in those days.

and my grandmother didnt have a income, she lived off a bank account saved by
my grandfather when he died, then there was no income, so the boys had to pick
up the slack and take care of mother!! then one by one they were off and married
with own families, so my father was the only child living at home taking care of his
mother and working and paying bills.

my grandmother had 5 children die. none of them have grave stones, but they are
not buried over either.
the cemetary has since open a new section which was a building there, they knocked
down and started a fresh area for those who want to stay in this general area.

we still have one grave site which has no one in it, next to my grandmother, the
proposed paper says this belongs to my grandmother and her decendants or next
of kin for eternity. this is sole property of our family. our land. so no one can just
come along and bury their family (unknown to ours) in this section where we own.

I dont know where people get these false ideas that we are upper class because
of how we bury our family here. my grandmother like i said wasnt rich, she buried
5 girls and had to make payments monthly to pay for these graves which she was
just like any other person.

as for preserving for the children, we do here, and we have sent money there, what
happens to it is anybodys guess. maybe those who were buried there should be
cared for more then this wouldnt be happening.

Right on, Patrycja!!!

Oh, yea, my "upper class" grandparents, and great grandparents came here and lived in the lap of luxury!!! The men worked for the railroad companies, the coal yards and the docks for long hours. My father and his brothers worked on the docks and helped to support those at home. My grandmother, who took care of her household of husband, four sons and her mother in law, went to work in the afternoon to clean other people's houses. She was wise enough to put away this money she earned, and when one of these houses came up for sale, she had enough saved to buy it.

These "upper class" people were living in the worst areas of cities and were not treated as high society. Many did not speak English, or have skills other than strength and determination.They worked at these hard labor jobs for little pay. But.... they all had the same dream, and that was to have a better life than they came from.

Yes, they loved their homeland, left their loved ones and put up with many hardships in order to give their children and grandchildren a better life. My grandfather would not talk of what he left, he said he was an American now. His homelife and his heart was Polish, but he would not share with others what he left in Poland, and worked so hard for, in America.

Please don't insult his integrity by calling him "upper Class"!

And, 30764, I'm not sure what you mean by preserving something for their children. How and what were they supposed to preserve?

same here, I dont know who puts these falso Ideas in their head. like we didnt have
it hard, yeah were all rich and live in castles.. baloney!!

And then knock us for wanting to re-connect with our heritage, its bull-sh*t!

what has your family preserved 30764? cause I hear that the cemetaries are all
full of twice the amount of people , I didnt want to believe it, but to me that
is upsetting.

someone came along and touched my parents or grandparents graves. the last place
on this earth that they will be. I would be knockin someone into next week!