History of the War Cemetery
At the Soviet War Cemetery in Leusden, next to the Amersfoort cemetery Rusthof, 865 war victims from the former Soviet Union are buried.
Soviet prisoners of war in Amersfoort
On 27 September 1941, 101 prisoners of war from the Soviet Union arrived at the cattle dock at Amersfoort station. They had been captured on the Eastern Front, not long after the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
The soldiers were said to have come from Soviet republics in Central Asia, mainly Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. They were considered by the Nazis as sub-humans and treated brutally by them. During their long train journey to the Netherlands they had barely had anything to eat or drink.
The soldiers had to walk from the station through the city to Camp Amersfoort, surrounded by guards. They attracted a lot of attention. To the bystanders they looked deathly tired, hungry and pitiful. Several Amersfoort citizens tried to give them something to eat.
Also during their stay in Camp Amersfoort (see photo) the Russians, as they were called, were treated downright badly. Within six months, 24 of them died of hunger, disease and abuse. The camp doctor had the heads of two deceased Soviet prisoners of war cut off. He had their skulls boiled and placed them as curiosities in his office.
On April 9, 1942, the remaining 77 Soviet soldiers were shot. It would turn out to be the second largest mass execution in the Netherlands during World War II. Not far from the place of the execution, a monument was erected: Koedriest.
The Soviet soldiers were buried in pits in the forest and on the heath. After the war, the remains of the 101 Soviet soldiers were first reburied at the Amersfoort cemetery Rusthof and in 1947 transferred to the newly constructed Soviet War Cemetery.
Here they were buried as ‘unknown Soviet soldiers’. Their identity was not established. The card index with their names disappeared after the war. In this way, the Nazis took not only their lives but also their names. Slowly, the anonymous Soviet soldiers fell into oblivion.
The Soviet War Cemetery Foundation ensures that they are not forgotten. Since 2012, the Foundation has held an annual commemoration at the Koedriest Monument. In 2021, the Soviet War Cemetery Foundation succeeded in identifying two of the soldiers and locating their relatives.
691 prisoners of war from Margraten
Another 691 Soviet soldiers were buried at the then temporary American Military Cemetery in Margraten, Limburg. They had fought in the Red Army and were captured by the Germans. Many ended up in camps in the Ruhr area (including Stalag VI A in Hemer and Stalag VIK in Stukenbrock), where they had to work under appalling conditions.
After their death – often from tuberculosis – their remains were transferred to the nearest American cemetery outside Germany, so that no Allied war dead would have to be buried in enemy territory.
Most of the 691 Soviet soldiers buried in Margraten succumbed to illness in the last days of the war or in the first days and weeks after liberation. The American army had admitted them to hospitals in German towns such as Lüdenscheid, Hamm, Dortmund and Bad Lippspringe.
After the war, the authorities wanted to turn the burial ground in Margraten into an exclusive American war cemetery. The soldiers from the Soviet Union were transferred to Amersfoort, where all 101 ‘Russians’ who died in and near Camp Amersfoort were buried. Because there was insufficient space at Rusthof, a separate cemetery was built next to it: the Soviet War Cemetery.
73 other war victims
Amersfoort thus served as a collection point for war victims from the then Soviet Union who were laid to rest in the Netherlands. The remains of 73 others were also reburied in Amersfoort.
This group includes Soviet soldiers who had been given the opportunity to exchange the misery in the POW camps for a German uniform. Many of these soldiers, mainly Armenians and Georgians, rebelled against the Germans at the end of the war, deserted or committed sabotage against the occupiers. They were shot for this reason. A number of others died as forced labourers. The Soviet War Cemetery also contains several women and one victim of the First World War.
The Soviet War Cemetery was dedicated on November 18, 1948 (see photo) by Minister of War W.F. Schokking.
Research by our Foundation has shown that at least four men were wrongly buried as Soviet soldiers (they appear to be from France, Italy and Romania). Presumably, one of the 101 war victims from Camp Amersfoort is also not a Soviet soldier.
