Vojenský hřbitov (Lada v Podještědí) Cemetery

The military cemetery in Lady, Podzedědí, also known as the Ukrainian cemetery, is a cultural monument of the Czech Republic located near the village Jablonné v Podještědí in Liberec. This 2524 m ² building was founded at the beginning of World War I as an Orthodox burial ground for military prisoners and is an important witness to the fate of soldiers of various nationalities.

The cemetery was founded in December 1914 in connection with a nearby prison camp which began to arise on November 2, 1914 north of Jablonny Station. Thousands of men were housed in the camp, originally mainly Russian, and later French, Serbs, Italians and English. In June 1915 the number of prisoners increased to 12 000 people who worked mainly in agriculture or in the forest. After the peace of Brestlitev in March 1918, the captured soldiers were replaced with Austrian soldiers. In 1919, persons from the Ukrainian Brigade were also transferred here, which were interned in Czechoslovakia.

A hospital for Austrian soldiers was set up in the camp in late 1917. After its enlargement in June 1918, approximately 600 soldiers were treated here, including the last transport of wounded and ill from the Italian battlefield near Trident. More than a hundred soldiers are buried in the cemetery who died because of poor conditions, injuries or diseases. More than 20 men from the Ukrainian Brigade have been infected with typhoid diseases and other causes.

The graves are marked with Latin or Orthodox crosses, on which are fixed tin plates with the names of the deceased. A rock mound was built for the buried Jews. Important elements include a granite monument from 1921, which depicts the figure of a Ukrainian singer with a cobra and contains the verses of the national poet Taras Shevchenko: "Glory will not disappear, the world will go to waste and will be told wherever it happened, where it is true and where it is wrong, and what children of our time we were." In 1918, a memorial was built in the cemetery for Russian prisoners of war.

After 1945 they neglected and unintentionally damaged the cemetery, the original crosses were lost or destroyed, and the space grew by air. The situation changed only after 1989. In autumn 2008, a revitalisation took place in which the cemetery was cleaned, the graves were reequipped with a cross and the whole area was fenced by a wooden fence. The Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic contributed financially to this reconstruction.

The monument is located at No.24 on the edge of the forest, approximately 400 metres east of the Lada settlement. Thanks to the reconstruction carried out, the object is now maintained and serves as a place of reminder of the fate of the First World War soldiers. This monument is worth visiting for its historical authenticity and importance for understanding the history of the region.