The Second World War National Memorial in the village of Hrabyně is one of the six exhibition premises of the Silesian Museum. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the site of one of the most intense battles to have taken place on the territory of the modern-day Czech Republic during the Second World War. The Memorial aims chiefly to illustrate the history of the Second World War period, acquire thematically related exhibits and gather information on members of the Czechoslovak home and foreign resistance and on the victims of persecution by the Nazi regime. It also focuses on the study of and research into the wartime period.
The foundation stone of the building was laid in April 1970 and it was officially opened four years later, on 29th April 1980. At the time it was known as the Memorial to the Ostrava Offensive.
The Memorial has been part of the Silesian Museum since 1992, and in 2000 the Czech government declared it a national monument to the Second World War on the territory of the Czech Republic. The complex includes a symbolic cemetery containing the names of more than 13,000 Red Army soldiers, as well as those of inhabitants of Silesia and north Moravia who fell on all fronts during the War or who perished in concentration camps. For this reason, the Memorial is an important venue for commemorative and formal events.
Article last updated: 21.06.2016
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