9 October 2013
Photography: Georgian cemetary on Texel
During the final days of World War II, a few hundred Georgian soldiers, who had been coerced to fight with the German army after having been taken prisoner, rose up on the Dutch island of Texel. After initial success, however, the uprising was suppressed with the aid of German reinforcements from Den Helder on the mainland. Around 600 Georgians, 100 Dutch civilians and 800 Germans (of which 450 in the initial uprising) were killed, many of whom in mass executions, and the German troops weren't defeated until 20 May 1945, much later than in the rest of Europe.
After the war, a special cemetary was created in the center of the island for the Georgian soldiers, named after their commander, Shalva Loladze. Throughout the years, it has been visited repeatedly by Georgian delegations, notably in 2005 by Mikhail Saakashvili, his wife Sandra Roelofs (who is Dutch) and Patriarch Ilia II.
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