Patrimony of Belarus.
Photo survey of the patrimony of Valozhyn District (2016): Makarynjata, Padbjarez’, Dudy, Antseljeushchyna, Aljanava, Hirbinjata, Vojshtavichy.
Спадчына Беларусі.
Фотавандроўка па спадчыне Валожынскага раёна (2016 г.): Макарынята, Падбярэзь, Дуды, Анцэлеўшчына, Алянава, Гірбінята, Войштавічы.
World War I cemeteries (part XLVI): German World War I cemetery (graves of combat engineers).
From September 1915 to November 1917 the German, Austrian and Russian imperial armies, indifferent to the rights of the Belarusian nation, contested part of the World War I Eastern Front on a static southwest to northeast line across Belarusian lands. According to Belarusian photographer-historian Uladzimir Bahdanau, during that time the three imperial armies established more than 300 military cemeteries along this section of the front. Estimates vary from 106 to more than 150 German cemeteries which remain or whose former sites are locatable, including many in this area of Valozhyn District.
Since the collapse of the Soviet empire, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge — VDK or “Volksbund”, somewhat corresponding to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission or American Battle Monuments Commission) has joined the efforts of Belarusian volunteers and local historians to put some of the German World War I cemeteries in Belarus in order.
Vojshtavichy is one of the German World War I cemeteries which the Volksbund has helped restore. What distinguishes this cemetery is the use of boulders, each shaped in its own way, as gravestones.
Могілкі часоў Першай сусьветнай вайны (частка XLVI): нямецкія могілкі (магілы сапёраў).
