Halabja Martyrs' Cemetery - Halabja, Iraq - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

On the 16th March 1988 Iraqi artillery units and aircraft launched an attack on Halabja. The chemical elements containers were dropped by the airplanes and involved the town in a cloud of toxic elements, causing the death of about 5,000 persons. These were buried here, in this cemetery.

By the entrance there is a sign announcing that access to Baath party people is forbidden.

Inside there are individual graves as well as four mass graves (these hold about 1500 victims).

In the cemetery there is an informative panel with text in English, Kurdish and Arabic, with the English version as follows:

"The Halabja Martyrs' Cemetery stands as a poignant memorial to the victims of the 1988 chemical attack on Halabja. It also serves as a public cemetery for the city's residents. The cemetery was established in 2003, coinciding with the construction of the Halabja Monument. The cemetery encompasses four mass graves, each containing a significant number of victims. One mass grave holds the remains of 1,500 martyrs, another contains 440 martyrs, another contains 24 martyrs, and the final mass grave contains 16 martyrs .in addition to the mass graves, the cemetery features 1,076 individual graves, each marked with the names of those who perished in the chemical attack.
- The choice of this location for the cemetery holds symbolic significance, as it was here that many of the victims were initially buried in mass graves following the devastating attack. The Halabja Martyrs' Cemetery serves:
as a powerful reminder of the city's tragic history and pays tribute to the lives lost in the chemical attack. It stands as a testament to the resilience of the Halabja community and their commitment to presening their city's memory."

Group that erected the marker: Unknown URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Halabja Martyrs' Cemetery Halabja, Iraq

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