The cemetery located on Okszowska Street was created in June 1941. Until July 1944, 60,000 prisoner-of-war soldiers were buried there. Between April and July 1944, Stalag 319, divided into 4 sub-stalags (A, B, C, D), held about 200,000 prisoners of several nationalities, including French prisoners.
The cemetery was put back in order in 1954, the year in which 48 mass graves were created. The following stages of the work took place in 1963: the cemetery grounds were enlarged and the number of graves increased to 57. In the years 2004-2012, research carried out showed that most of the soldiers buried there came from the Red Army. Following this research, the 1961 inscription concerning the prisoners of war "Polish, Soviet, Yugoslav, French and Italian" was modified. The new plaque, unveiled in May 2014 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the closure of the Stalag, is dedicated to "the memory of 60,000 prisoners of Stalag 319 A and 319 C of Chełm, soldiers of the Soviet army of several nationalities, mistreated and murdered by the Germans in the years 1941-1944, whose ashes rest here".