An 80-year-old wine carafe with a special story will soon be on display at the Soviet War Cemetery Experience. The decanter was made available by the family of a war victim buried in Leusden.
Georgian Semyon Vanishvili bought the wine decanter in 1941, when he was called up for military service in order to fight against Nazi Germany. He gave the carafe to his family with the request not to forget him by toasting him on special occasions.
Semyon never returned to Georgia. He was executed by the Nazis in Beverwijk in 1945 and was reburied after the war at the Soviet War Cemetery in Leusden.
The carafe has been made available by the family to be exhibited in the Soviet War Cemetery Experience. The museum about the Soviet War Cemetery, in the former Stables on the Vlooswijkseweg, will open its doors on March 8.
“It was not easy for the family to give up the decanter, which they have cherished for 80 years as a memento of Semyon,” says Remco Reiding, director of the Soviet War Cemetery Foundation. “But they understand that by showing the carafe and telling the story behind it, we can keep the memory of Semyon alive.”
