CS / EN

Common Grave of Death Transport Victims, Olbramovice Ves

Basic Information

Location
Česko > Středočeský kraj > okres Benešov > Olbramovice > Olbramovice u Votic
Location Details: Cemetery, behind the church

Coordinates
49.674183, 14.640917

Type
Holocaust monument / memorial, Upright stele or slab

Location
Cemetery, Mass grave

Textual Content
Historical narrative, Prayer

Languages
Czech

Whom the Monument Commemorates
Victims of World War II, Jewish victims

82 victims of the death transport

Iconographical Subject
Cross

Material
Granite, terrazzo

Dimensions
Width: 70 cm
Height: 55 cm

Commissioned By
Municipality of Olbramovice

Dates

after 1945 May 10 — Construction

Description

There is a mass grave in the Olbramovice cemetery, in which the remains of probably 82 victims of the death transport are buried. The grave site occupies the area of ​​approximately four ordinary graves. The grave lined with stone blocks and the top is divided by three narrow granite slabs into four parts, in which perennial plants grow. At the back edge of the grave area, in the middle, a rectangular tombstone made of light gray terrazzo stands on a two-step pedestal. A black granite plaque with a white dedication is attached to the tombstone. To the left of the tombstone stands a Latin cross made of the same light gray terrazzo.

Inscription

ZDE ODPOČÍVAJÍ:
82 POLITICKÝCH VĚZŇŮ, PŘÍSLUŠNÍKŮ
RŮZNÝCH NÁRODŮ, SPOJENÝCH SPOLEČNÝM BOJEM
ZA SVOBODU, SPOLEČNÝM UTRPENÍM A SPOLEČNÝM
HROBEM V ČESKÉ ZEMI. BYLI ZASTĚLENI
OD NĚMCŮ V POSLEDNÍ DNY SVĚTOVÉ VÁLKY
ROKU 1945 V KŘEŠICÍCH A OLBRAMOVICÍCH.
HOSPODINE, UDĚL JIM I NÁM STÁLÝ MÍR!

History

The memorial plaque commemorates the death transport – a train that initially carried approximately 4,000 prisoners from several concentration camps, including the Flossenbürg, Litoměřice and Terezín camps. The transport had several stops, e.g. in Kralupy nad Vltavou, Roztoky u Prahy, Prague and then in Olbramovice, where it stopped on 1 May 1945. It remained there for several days, during which dozens of prisoners were murdered (see the database entries of the memorial plaque in Křešice, the mass grave in Libohošť, the grave of victims in Olbramovice at the railway station). The prisoners were initially allowed to leave the station and beg for food from the locals in Křešice and wash in the local pond, but SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Wilhelm Graun, who happened to be passing by the location, had the freely moving prisoners shot.
The memorial in Olbramovice is also dedicated to the prisoners murdered directly at the local station. The death transport was supposed to leave Olbramovice on 6 May 1945 heading south, but was halted by the aforementioned SS-Hauptsturmführer Graun, who, for reasons still unknown, arrived at the Olbramovice station accompanied by his wife Margareta Graun and a Waffen SS unit. Graun then ordered the shooting of the prisoners in the open wagons. Sources differ on the number of dead, but it is likely that eight prisoners were shot. The death transport finally left Olbramovice and was liberated on 8 May 1945 near Velešín.
The memorial plaque commemorates a total of 82 victims from various countries, among whom were probably also Jewish victims. According to the Olbramovice chronicle, people buried here came from other countries besides those named on the memorial plaque, for example from Belgium and Holland. The grave was dug in the Olbramovice cemetery on 9 and 10 May 1945 by German prisoners of war and a gravestone with an inscription was placed there shortly afterwards. The grave is now maintained by the municipality of Olbramovice with contributions of the Association des déportés et familles de disparus du camp de concentration de Flossenbürg & Kommandos.

Sources

Archives

Literature

Pavla Plachá, Osvobozený transport, Paměť a dějiny, 2018, No. 1, pp. 70–83.
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.

Websites

Other

Death Transport from Litoměřice to Velešín, Czech-German traveling exhibition of the Military History Institute Prague and the KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg, opening 2017.

More photos

Entry Author

Zuzana Duchková