Krakow-Rakowice War Cemetery No. 388 within the present Rakowicki Cemetery consists of two separate complexes of sections, one of which is located at the southern fence of the cemetery (along Żelazna Street) and the other one is near the building of the so-called Warsaw Tollhouse.
The part located at the southern wall includes section XXIII and a complex of sections (lanes 50, 50a, 50b, 51 and lanes of sections V, XI, XV, XIX) extending along the wall from the mausoleum for a distance of approx. 300 m. The war section is separated from the civil part of the Rakowicki Cemetery by plastered posts with concrete covers and a hedgerow, and on the eastern side, by short wall sections with a concrete cover and an alley-wide opening. Entrances to the section are located on the extension of the alleys in the civil part of the cemetery. The main element of the arrangement of the section zone located at the southern fence is a stone mausoleum erected on a terrace. It forms a monument wall made of stone blocks surmounted with a cornice with a decorative frieze, which resembles an Egyptian pylon in shape. Stone stairs lead to the terrace.
A stone plaque with the following inscription is embedded in the wall: ”PAMIĘCI POLEGŁYCH/ W WOJNIE ŚWIATOWEJ/ 1914 – 1918 (IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAT – 1914-1918).” Under the monument, there are crypts designed as a burial site for senior officers of the Austro-Hungarian army.
In lane 50a, a monumental composition is situated among graves of soldiers of the Polish Legions. Its background is formed by an elevated section of the fence wall flanked with pillars on which sculptures depicting eagles are placed. A Latin cross is carved on the wall between the pillars. The composition is complemented by a stand-alone two-segment pedestal with a sculpture of four legionaries. On the front wall of the top segment, there is a dark marble plaque with the following inscription: “Z TRUDU NASZEGO/ POLSKA/ POWSTAŁA BY ŻYC (POLAND IS REBORN THANKS TO OUR EFFORTS FOR IT TO LIVE).” On the sidewalls of the lower segment, there are plaques with the following inscriptions:
– “WALCZYLI OFIARNIE/ ODDAJĄC/ ŻYCIE OJCZYŹNIE” (THEY FOUGHT AND SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR HOMELAND),
– “SŁUŻYLIŚMY WIERNIE/ BOGU i OJCZYŹNIE/ 1914–1918 (WE WERE IN FAITHFUL SERVICE TO GOD AND OUR HOMELAND).”
On the front wall of the lower segment, there is a bas-relief depicting an eagle (resembling an emblem placed on caps of members of the Riflemen's Association) and the following inscription "ŻOŁNIERZOM / LEGJONÓW POLSKICH / 1914 1918 (TO SOLDIERS OF THE POLISH LEGIONS 1914-1918)." All this is complemented by stone spheres - four located on the higher pedestal and two on its concrete base. Some of the grave lanes are enclosed with stone borders. The composition is complemented by stone benches at the end of two alleys leading from the civil part of the cemetery.
In section XXIII, the central element is the so-called “Monument of Glory” forming a sandstone post with a bas-relief in its upper part, which depicts an ancient helmet and sword. On the monument’s face, there is a Latin cross and the following inscription: “PAMIĘCI TYCH, KTÓRZY OFIARNIE ZŁOŻYLI ŻYCIE W OBRONIE OJCZYZNY W WALKACH 1914-1920 (IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIFE IN THE DEFENCE OF THEIR HOMELAND IN 1914-1920 BATTLES)”. Below, there is a plaque on the monument, with the following inscription: “PAMIĘCI/ JAKÓBA – WŁOSTOWIEC/ GĄSIECKIEGO/ GENERAŁA DYWIZJI/ KAWALERU ORDERU V.M. KRZYŻA/ ZŁOTEGO KRZYŻA ZASŁ. I INNYCH/ DŁUGOLETNIEGO ZASŁUŻONEGO/ PREZESA WOJEWÓDZKIEGO/ TOWARZYSTWA OPIEKI NAD GROBAMI/ BOHATERÓW/ ZMARŁEGO DNIA 2.V.1933 (IN MEMORY OF JAKÓB WŁOSTOWIEC GĄSIECKI, DIVISION GENERAL, CAVALIER OF VIRTUTI MILITARY CROSS, GOLD CROSS OF MERIT AND OTHER DISTINCTIONS. LONG-TERM DEVOTED CHAIRMAN OF THE PROVINCE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE HEROES’ GRACES, WHO DIED ON 2/03/1933).”
In section XXIII, there is a dark stone tombstone with a representation of a Turkish flag and the following inscription in Polish and Turkish: ”PAMIĘCI/ŻOŁNIERZY TURECKICH/ POLEGŁYCH NA FRONCIE/GALICYJSKIM W LATACH/ 1916 – 1917 (IN MEMORY OF TURKISH SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN THE GALICIAN FRONT DURING THE YEARS 1916-1917).”
In the section, there are WW1 tombstones in the form of:
- cast-iron openwork Latin and two-barred crosses (with or without the "1915" date),
- cast-iron crosses with a shield at the arm crossing,
- wrought (flat bar) Latin crosses.
- stone plaques on the fence wall, enclosed with concrete framing topped with a profiled cornice,
- concrete framing with a high cuboid truncated towards one side, with an inscription,
- concrete framing with a low cuboid truncated towards one side, with an inscription,
- large stone stelae forming a portico surmounted with stone spheres with the following inscription “POLEGŁYM 1914–1920/ CZEŚĆ (GLORY TO THE VICTIMS OF 1914-1920)”,
- rectangular gabled stone stelae with a cornice broken in the middle and the following inscription “POLEGŁYM/ 1914 – 1920/ CZEŚĆ (GLORY TO THE VICTIMS OF 1914-1920)”,
- a concrete border and a Maltese cross on a grave of a German army soldier.
In section XXIII, it is worth paying attention to a tombstone of Alfred Winter, one-year volunteer, in the form of a high stele with a sculptural motif of a wreath and a military cap, with an embedded dark marble plaque with the following inscription: “HIER + ruhet / unser innigst geliebter Sohn und Bruder / ALFRED WINTER / Einj. Freiw. Geb. 10/XII 1892 / + den Heldentodt 25.IX 1914 / tief betrauert von seinen Lieben.”
In section XXIII, among civil graves, the following tombstones are located outside the area surrounded by a hedgerow:
- of Lieutenant Peter von Petrovits, in the form of a border with a stone obelisk at the head,
- of Vaclav Peter, in the form of a stone stele with a gable ending and a bas-relief of Saint Wenceslas on a horse and an inscription in Czech,
- of private Józef Kunstman, in the form of a stone pedestal with a plaque.
The vast majority of burials in the southern section complex date back to 1914–1916. Among those buried in this part of the cemetery, there are soldiers of the Polish Legions as well as the Austro-Hungarian, Russian and German armies. After the end of World War I, officers of the Polish Army and the Russian corps of General Nikolai Bredov, interned in March 1920, were also buried there. Out of about 6,700 soldiers buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery from August 1914 to the end of 1918, about 3,800 soldiers were buried in the southern complex of sections.
Works relating to the establishment of the war cemetery were carried out by the Department for War Graves at the Fortress Headquarters, and after its dissolution at the end of 1917, by the Department for War Graves at the Military Headquarters in Krakow. By the end of the war, pillars separating the war sections from the civil part of the cemetery, stone benches and a section of the wall on the eastern side were completed. By that time, the construction of the mausoleum designed by Lieutenant Karl Korschann, according to which a sculptural composition was to be placed on the terrace, had not been completed yet.
Works relating to the finishing of the monument were carried out after November 1920 and limited to installing a stone frieze and a commemorative plaque. In later years, concrete tombstones were funded on the graves of the legionaries and officers of the Austro-Hungarian army by the Polish Society for the Protection of the Heroes' Graves.
The monument in the legionaries' section was made in 1927 according to a design by Władysław Boratyński, with a sculpture referring to the monument of the Four Legionaries by Jan Raszka. In 1930, a monument funded by the Polish Society for the Protection of the Heroes' Graves was erected in section XXIII. In 1990, the remains of General Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski (1881-1942) were buried in the legionaries' section.
