CS / EN

Grave of the Victims of World War II, Libohošť

Basic Information

Location
Česko > Středočeský kraj > okres Benešov > Vrchotovy Janovice > Manělovice
Location Details: On the edge of the forest southwest of the village, on the yellow trail 850 m from the Libohošt' crossroads, on the right side of the trail

Coordinates
49.698545, 14.584001

Type
Holocaust monument / memorial, Upright stele or slab

Location
Mass grave

Textual Content
Dedication, Historical narrative

Languages
Czech, Russian, French

Whom the Monument Commemorates
Victims of Fascism, Jewish victims

Death transport prisoners shot in the village of Křešice

Material
Stone, metal

Dimensions
Width: 320 cm (Approx.)
Height: 200 cm (Approx.)
Depth: 540 cm (Approx.)

Commissioned By
Town of Vrchotovy Janovice

Dates

after 1945 — Construction approx. 1965 — Supplement

Description

The mass grave is located near the village of Libohošt' on the edge of the forest and is surrounded by a red metal fence. The common grave of 24 victims consists of a long stone kerb and a covering slab made of grey polished granite. A rectangular commemorative plaque of grey polished granite is set in the centre of the distinctive, roughly worked tombstone. The inscription plaque is engraved with trilingual text, which is finished in silver. The grave is well maintained given the forest conditions.

Inscription

ZDE JE POHŘBENO 24 SYNŮ A DCER NÁRODŮ
SOVĚTSKÉHO SVAZU, FRANCIE, POLSKA A JUGOSLÁVIE,
RUMUNSKA A ČESKOSLOVENSKA,
UBITÝCH V DUBNU 1945 NĚMECKÝMI FAŠISTY
NIKDY NEZAPOMENEME

ЗДЕСЪ ПОХРОНЕЫ 24 СЫНА И ДОЧЕРИ
НАРОДОВ СОВЕТСКОВО СОЮЗА, ФРАНЦИИ
ПОЛЪШИ, ЮГОСЛАВИИ, РУМЫНИИ И ЧЕХОСЛОВАКИИ
УБИТЫХ В АПРЕЛЕ 1945 ГОДА НЕМЕЦКИМИ ФАШИСТАМИ
ВЕЧНАЯ ПАМЯТЪ ВАМ

ICI REPOSENT EN REVE ETÉRNEL 24 FILS ET FILLES
DE L'UNION SOVIÉTIQUE, DE LA FRANCE, DE LA POLOGNE, DE LA
YOUGOSLAVIE, DE LA ROUMANIE ET DE LA TCHÉCOSLOVAQUIE,
TUÉS EN AVRIL 1945 PAR LES FASCISTES ALLEMANDS
NOUS N'OUBLIERONS JAMAIS

History

The history of the victims buried in the mass grave in Libohošt' is linked to several other places: the Flossenbürg concentration camp, the Litoměřice concentration camp, the Olbramovice railway station (see the database entry Memorial plaque to the victims of a death transport, Olbramovice), the village of Křešice (see Memorial plaque to the victims of the Nazi terror, Křešice) and the town of Vrchotovy Janovice. These places are connected with the death transport that left the concentration camp in Litoměřice, a Flossenbürg sub-camp, on 24 April 1945. The transport consisted of several trains, some of which had previously come from the territory of present-day Germany and others from Lovosice. The approximate number of prisoners transported in the wagons is estimated at four thousand. On the way, the transport stopped at Kralupy nad Vltavou, Roztoky u Prahy, Prague, Olbramovice and Velešín. During the journey, some prisoners managed to escape, but most who tried were shot. At several stations, groups of Czechs reached the train and tried to free the prisoners, but the SS kept a strong guard.
A crucial event took place in Olbramovice, where the transport arrived on 1 May 1945. Record of the events was preserved in a court file, which described the course of the war crime committed in Olbramovice and Křešice at the instigation of SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Wilhelm Graun and his wife Margareta Graun. The starving prisoners of the transport tried to find something to eat at the station, but were shot by young Waffen SS guards, who were distinguished by their cruelty throughout the transport. As the situation on the train was already unbearable, after the train had been temporarily stopped in the village of Křešice, the prisoners, with the consent of the SS guards, set out to find food from the locals of Křešice and to wash in the local pond. According to eyewitnesses, the SS commander Graun was passing through the village at the time and he reproached the Wehrmacht guards for this action. He returned a shortly after with a lorry carrying a detachment of about 20 Waffen SS soldiers, who combed Křešice and immediately shot any prisoner they saw. They murdered a total of 24 prisoners from various countries were murdered, among whom were probably Jewish victims, and shot one citizen of Křešice. The bodies of the victims were buried in a mass grave near the forest called Baba, where a dignified grave was established after World War II.
The grave site was originally decorated with flowers, but later the grave was covered with stone slabs. The tombstone with the memorial plaque has remained unchanged since its creation. In 1965 and probably also in 1975, large gatherings were held at the grave, attended by officials at district level and representatives of the home countries of murdered prisoners. Currently, the grave is in the care of the municipality of Vrchotovy Janovice, which maintains the site in cooperation with the local primary school. Pupils in the final grades regularly clean the monument and its surroundings. They also commemorate the events connected with the end of the war in this region. Larger commemorative acts are no longer held here.

Sources

Archives

Archive of the Security Forces of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, sig. 325-164-2.
Archive of the Security Forces of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, sig. 325-16-4.
National Archive, coll. Czechoslovak Government Commission for the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes, Historical record of Friedrich Graun.

Literature

Stanislav Staněk, Evakuace území mezi Vltavou a Sázavou za okupace, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 1973, p. 179–203.
Stanislav Kokoška, Cvičiště zbraní SS Bohmen 1942–1945, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 1986, pp. 271–294.
Jaroslava Hoffmannová, Poválečná obnova území bývalého cvičiště zbraní SS Benešov, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 1987, pp. 261–281.
Olga Čadilová, Vrchotovy Janovice, Praha 2001.
Monika Sedláková, Pobočka koncentračního tábora Flossenbürg ve vystěhovaných Vrchotových Janovicích v letech 1944–1945, in: Sborník vlastivědných prací z Podblanicka, Benešov 2007, pp. 311–328.
Pavla Plachá, Osvobozený transport, Paměť a dějiny, 2018, No. 1, pp. 70–83.

Websites

Media

Other

Transport of Death from Litoměřice to Velešín, Czech-German travelling exhibition of the Military Historical Institute in Prague and KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg, opening 2017.
E-mail correspondence with Marcela Čedíková, October 2024.

More photos

Entry Author

Zuzana Duchková