This mass grave contains about 4,670 unknown victims of Nazi terror and of the Soviet massacres of 1945. Officially, this necropolis is called only "cemetery of the victims of Nazi terror", a name that makes no mention of the Soviet massacres.
In addition to the mass grave, it also included a commemorative monument (which no longer exists) and two sculptures by Bolesław Marschall (which still exist). Until the end of the 1980s, it was a very well-kept place, under the constant care of the local schools. Homage was paid to the dead during regular ceremonies. On the monument one read, in Polish: "In these graves have been laid the remains of 4,670 victims of fascist terror, murdered, shot in camps and hospitals in Olsztyn, Stare Jabłonki, Iława, Królikowo". One also read the inscription "freedom – peace – socialism".
However, after the communist period, the memory of the place sought to be more accurate and the truth came to light, namely that this necropolis, despite its name, is also the resting place of the civilians murdered by the Soviet army during the liberation of Olsztyn in January 1945.
In 1995, at the initiative of the social committee for the safeguarding of the old cemeteries of Warmia and Masuria, with the participation of the clergy of three confessions and in the presence of a large group of Germans from Olsztyn and the region, a wooden cross was blessed in the cemetery, placed beside the monument, commemorating all the victims of 1945. The main commemorative monument was renamed "monument dedicated to the victims of the Second World War".
Today, the commemorative monument, an instrument of communist propaganda, no longer exists, and has given way to a new monument, much more sober.