De Koedriest Monument - Leusden

The 77 were part of a group of 101 Soviet soldiers who were brought to Kamp Amersfoort on 27 September 1941. The majority hailed from Uzbekistan. It is said that they were chosen for their features, because the Nazis wanted to demonstrate to the Dutch that their Allies in the East were sub humans.

Within half a year of their arrival in the camp 24 of these prisoners of war had died of starvation, disease and abuse. After the war all of these 101 war victims were buried as anonymous Soviet soldiers in Leusden. Their identity was never established.

In 1954 a simple monument was erected at the execution site, replaced on 4 May 1964 with the present memorial. The inscription on the shrine reads, ‘To the glorious sons of the Soviet people who fell in the fight against the German occupying forces in 1941-1945. From a grateful homeland.’

The monument stands at the end of the Loes van Overeemlaan in Leusden, near the former Kamp Amersfoort and De Hoge Kley golf links. De Koedriest is the name of the forest parcel where the execution took place.

Since 2013 the Soviet War Cemetery Foundation holds an annual commemoration at the monument on 9 April. At 06.30 hours, the time the killing started, 77 candles are lit for the 77 executed soldiers.

Source: Soviet War Cemetery Foundation