Sad news from Kazakhstan: this week Modyangul, the 88-year-old daughter of soldier Ilsha Makhametov, passed away. Daughter Dilnaz sent us this video, which we share with her permission.
We were wondering if we should share it, because it is very intimate. Why do we do it anyway? Because it shows how important it is that we still track down relatives sixty, seventy, eighty years after the war. How important it is to them to still find out where dad has gone.
In the video you see Modyangul on her deathbed with the photo of her father. That original photo will soon be on display in our museum, as will other objects, rare personal items of a beloved family member who never returned from the front.
The families make these objects available because they are immensely grateful for our work: identifying war victims at the Soviet War Cemetery and locating their relatives. Thanks to our work, they now know where their husband, father, grandfather, brother is buried. And decades of uncertainty have come to an end, allowing the open wound to heal. Moreover, they attach great value to the fact that the memory of their family member is kept alive by us in our museum.
Now that Modyangul has passed away, it is our duty to ensure that her father is not forgotten. All the more important that we give his picture a permanent place in our new museum and that you all come and look at it!
