The Allied Cemetery Zeytenlik ( Greek Συμμαχικά νεκροταφεία του Ζέιτενλικ ) in Thessaloniki is the largest military cemetery in Greece .
Here are buried 20,500 Allied Allied soldiers who fought and fell on the Thessaloniki Front during the First World War . The cemetery is located on Langada street [1] , 1.5 kilometers from the city center, not far from the monastery Lazarists , transformed during the war years into a military hospital [2] .
The cemetery is divided into 5 sectors, in accordance with the citizenship (citizenship) of the fallen [3] :
- French sector
- Serbian sector
- Italian sector
- British sector
- Russian sector
In addition to allies, Bulgarian prisoners of war who died from wounds and diseases are buried in the cemetery [4] .
The agreement on the creation of an allied cemetery was signed on November 20, 1920, by the Governor of Thessaloniki Adosidis (Greece), General Jean-Noel Boucher (France), Field Marshal George Milne (Great Britain), Voivode Zhivoin Misic (Serbia) and Lieutenant Colonel Kurjo Giamberini (Italy) [2] . To create a cemetery, the Greek government bought the land and placed it at the disposal of the allied states. The costs of maintaining cemeteries were taken by the union governments [5] .
Every year on November 11 , on the anniversary of the end of the war, the surviving veterans laid wreaths at the graves of the fallen. Today, the ritual is continued by the diplomatic missions of the allied countries.
French Cemetery (8098 Buried Warriors)
A gothic-style chapel was built at the cemetery, around which French soldiers were buried in separate graves, under stone Latin crosses. There are 3 monuments in the cemetery:
- Central, on which the number of buried
- A large stone cross with the inscription: "The Eastern Army for its dead"
- Monument to the Fallen Pilots
Serbian Sector (7441 Buried Warrior)
For Serbs, the Serbian military cemetery Zeytinlik ( Srpsko warrior’s grave at Zestinliku ) is a sacred place of national worship [6] . Serbia erected a mausoleum in the territory of its cemetery. One of the authors of the project of the Serbian cemetery and monument was, who emigrated to Yugoslavia, the Russian architect Nikolai Krasnov . The mosaic and murals of the monument belong to the Greek artists Elli Voyla ( Έλλη Βοΐλα-Λάσκαρη , 1908-1989) and Aginor Asteriadis . Serbian cemetery is the central part of the Zeytenlik complex. In its center is a chapel, under which there is a crypt, in which 5580 Serbian soldiers who died on the Thessaloniki front are buried. Near the mausoleum (chapel with crypt) there are 10 sites where 1,440 Serbian soldiers are buried. In addition, there are 2 more mass graves:
- 78 unidentified Serbian warriors who fell on the Thessaloniki front
- the remains of 217 captured Serb soldiers reburied from Constantinople
On the territory of the Serbian cemetery there is also the so-called “Partisan cemetery”, where 126 captured Serb partisans who died in the Nazi camps in Thessaloniki during World War II are buried.
Italian Cemetery (3,500 Buried Warriors)
Italian soldiers are buried in separate graves, under identical Latin crosses. Many graves have monuments erected by the relatives of the victims. Like the French sector, Italian has a separate chapel.
English Cemetery (1350 Buried Warriors)
The English cemetery is dominated by the Monument to the Fallen English Soldiers. A tombstone is installed above each grave, unlike other sectors where crosses are installed. The only cross was set by Serbian officers over the grave of the English nurse Catherine Harley, for helping her Serbian soldiers.
Russian Cemetery (493 Buried Warriors)
The Russian cemetery is located behind the Serbian "Partisan cemetery". On it, at one time, a wooden chapel was installed, which was removed during the reconstruction of the cemetery. On September 29, 2013, at the cemetery, as well as at the memorial of the city of Polycastron , the Russian consulate laid wreaths to the fallen soldiers of the Entente (Russia, Greece, Serbia, France, Great Britain and Italy) on the occasion of the celebration of the 95th anniversary of the breakout of the Macedonian Front of the First World War [7] .
Notes
- ↑ Greece: Reference card: Scale 1: 1,000,000 / hl ed. Y. A. Topchiyan ; Ed .: G. A. Skachkova , N. N. Ryumin . - M .: Roskartografiya, Omsk Cartographic Factory , 2001. - (The countries of the world "Europe"). - 2000 copies.
- ↑ 1 2 Λαζαρίδης Σπύρος. Από το Βαρδάρι ως το Δερβένι. - Θεσσαλονίκη: Ζήτρος, 1997. - P. 100. - ISBN 960-7760-05-0 .
- ↑ Χρίστος Ζαφείρης. Θεσσαλονίκης Εγκόλπιον. - Αθήνα: Εξάντας, 1997. - P. 293. - ISBN 960-256-301-X .
- ↑ Willis, GE Salonika Memories 1915-1919. - London: Salonika Reunion Association, 1969. - P. 42-43.
- ↑ ΦΕΚ Α220 / 24-9-1920
- ↑ Zeitinlik Archived on November 5, 2012. on the site of the Consulate-General of Serbia in Thessaloniki
- ↑ Consulate General of Russia in Thessaloniki: news of the Consulate General / Γενικό Προξενε το της Ρωσίας στη Θεσσαλονίκη: ειδήσειο του Προξενείου