The whole necropolis was to be destroyed in the 1980s as the Soviet authorities planned a major motorway to be built directly through the cemetery.

Due to a press campaign led by the Polish-language Czerwony Sztandar [pl] (Red Banner) newspaper and economic difficulties, the destruction was halted.

Until September 18, 1939, when the Red Army entered the city, an honorary guard of three soldiers stood there at all times.

Three unknown soldiers who refused to give up their arms to the Soviets in 1939 were shot on the spot and are now buried next to Marshal Piłsudski's heart.

Part of the cemetery contains graves of Polish Home Army soldiers, who fell during the Wilno Uprising.

There are many famous Lithuanians, Poles, and Belarusians buried there, including over fifty Vilnius University professors.

Those interred there include: There is also a mass grave of Poles kidnapped in 1919 from Vilnius by the Bolsheviks and shot at Daugavpils.