Tracing relatives of ‘forgotten’ Soviet soldiers

Remco Reiding is 22 years old, when he walks along lines of war graves in the Russian Field of Honour in Leusden. Hundreds of grave stones light up, when the sun shines upon them through the pine trees. He notices the mysterious alphabet.

Who are these soldiers? How did they end up here? And how is it possible that Reiding, who was born and living in the nearby town of Amersfoort, had never heard of this Russian Field of Honour before?

These questions are the start of a long search. In the following years Reiding wipes the dust off archives that were believed to be lost. Above all he finds it difficult to accept that the families of these Soviet soldiers have never been informed about the fate of their beloved ones, who are considered to be missed in action in their homeland. The search leads to the farthest corners of a strange, collapsed empire: the former Soviet Union. In this country live those who stayed behind: the wives, brothers and sisters, and the children of the soldiers, who grew up without a father. 55 years after the end of World War II Reiding manages to trace the first relatives of soldiers who were buried in Amersfoort. Years after he first walked past the grey stones in the Russian Field of Honour, crying relatives of soldiers stand with flowers in their hands at their father’s grave.