Military cemetery in Martínkovice

The Military Cemetery in Martínkovice is one of the largest and most sobering wartime burial grounds in the Czech Republic — the final resting place of thousands of First World War prisoners, laid out on a hill in the northwestern part of the village, facing the Church of St. George and St. Martin.

Where is the cemetery located?

The cemetery covers an area of 13,724 m² on a hillside in Martínkovice, in the Náchod district of the Hradec Králové Region. It is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic. The site is historically tied to a vast wartime prisoner-of-war camp that once stretched between Martínkovice and the nearby town of Broumov.

How did the cemetery come to be?

It was established during the First World War in the lower section of that prisoner camp, whose construction began in June 1915 and was completed in April 1916. The camp between Martínkovice and Broumov was among the largest of its kind in the entire Austro-Hungarian monarchy, with capacity for up to 30,000 prisoners of war — mostly Russians, Serbs, Italians, and political detainees.

Who is buried here?

The dead were prisoners who succumbed to physical exhaustion or to an outbreak of spotted typhus that swept through the overcrowded camp. Serbs made up the largest group among the internees, with 2,599 documented burials, alongside Russians, Italians, and smaller numbers of Poles, Lithuanians, and Romanians. Beyond the prisoners themselves, nearly 400 Austrian soldiers who died in connection with running the camp were also buried at the site.

What happened here during the Second World War?

The cemetery's story doesn't end with the First World War. Toward the close of the Second World War, 122 Russian prisoners who died during the so-called death marches — the brutal forced evacuations of prisoners ahead of the advancing front — were buried in the same military cemetery, making the site a testimony to tragedy across two separate world wars.

What does the cemetery look like today?

Restoration work has been underway since 2007, initiated by a Serbian company with support from the Martínkovice municipal office, the Czech Ministry of Culture, and the Serbian embassy. As a result, the site has retained a dignified, well-kept appearance and continues to serve as an important place of remembrance — both for the local community and for visitors from Serbia and other countries whose citizens rest on this hill.

Why is it worth visiting?

The cemetery in Martínkovice is rarely visited by mass tourism, yet it carries considerable historical weight — a reminder of the scale of suffering endured by prisoners of war at a time when the Náchod region unwittingly became home to one of the largest POW camps in the Habsburg monarchy. Its quiet hillside setting, next to a historic church, invites reflection on the fate of thousands whose names, in many cases, have not survived to the present day.

Frequently asked questions

How large is the Military Cemetery in Martínkovice? It covers 13,724 m² and is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Who were the prisoners buried at the cemetery? The largest group was Serbian (2,599 documented burials), along with Russians, Italians, and smaller numbers of Poles, Lithuanians, and Romanians, plus nearly 400 Austrian soldiers.

Where did the prisoner-of-war camp at Martínkovice come from? Construction of the large camp between Martínkovice and Broumov began in June 1915 and finished in April 1916; it could hold up to 30,000 prisoners.

What happened at the cemetery during the Second World War? 122 Russian prisoners who died during death marches near the end of the war were buried there.

Who is restoring the cemetery today? Since 2007, restoration has been carried out on the initiative of a Serbian company, with support from the Martínkovice municipality, the Czech Ministry of Culture, and the Serbian embassy.