The funeral ceremonies of the Polish defenders of Westerplatte will take place on November 4th. Their remains will rest in the new Cemetery of the Polish Army Soldiers on the peninsula. The ceremonial burial of the heroes will fulfill the duties towards the fallen Polish soldiers that Poland fulfills today. The defenders have waited over 83 years for this act of respect.
Thanks to research searching for the closest living relatives of Polish soldiers who died during the defense of the Miltary Depot in 1939, initiated by the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, nearly two years after the discovery of the remains, it was possible to identify the fallen immortalized in the photographs. Unearthed in pit no. 3. there was Senior Rifleman, Ignacy Zatorski. He was born in 1915, he arrived at Westerplatte in March 1939. During the defense of the Depot, he fought in the "Rampart" and "Fort" posts, and he died on September 2nd in the bombed Guardhouse No. 5.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk with the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and the Departmental Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation of the Institute of National Remembrance in Gdańsk, to date, seven fallen defenders of Westerplatte have been identified. They will soon be buried with dignity in the new military cemetery at Westerplatte.
