Soviet Field of Honour - Leusden

After World War II, the Soviet Field of Honour was established next to the general cemetery of Leusden-Amersfoort. It was officially opened on 18 November 1948 by W.F. Schokking, the Minister of War. There are 865 war victims from the former Soviet Union buried on the Field of Honour.

One hundred of them were Russian prisoners of war, probably most of them from Uzbekistan. They had been transported by train in cattle wagons to Amersfoort. The journey lasted two weeks. Upon arrival the soldiers were starving. They had to walk through the city in a procession to the concentration camp. The people of Amersfoort were shocked and came out with water, fruit and bread, but it was in vain. Within six months, 23 prisoners of war died of starvation. The other 77 were executed in groups of four on 9 April 1942. After the war this turned out to be the second largest execution in the Netherlands. A memorial column has been placed in the cemetery to remember this event.

At the American cemetery in Margraten, Limburg, there were also 691 Soviet soldiers buried. Many of them were imprisoned as prisoners of war in labour camps in the Ruhrgebiet. The miserable conditions and prevailing diseases ensured that many soldiers died in the final days of the war or in the first weeks after liberation. After the war they were transferred to the Field of Honour in Leusden.