QUEM NÃO CUIDA DOS SEUS MORTOS NÃO MERECE DESTINO

Thanks to the lobbying work and fundraising of the German War Graves Commission there are now 20 German military cemeteries in Russia, still too few to accomodate the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died in epic encounters like the Siege of Leningrad. Search teams still go out during the summer. German soldiers, on active service or in reserve units, travel to Russia and elsewhere to help.

Archaeology is about the search for lost civilisations. The search for German remains is something else: an attempt to recover the memory of how savage war can be and then put the memory to rest.

Military casualties

Army estimated 13,600,000 served; estimated 4,202,000 killed

Air force estimated 2,500,000 served; estimated 433,000 killed

Navy estimated 1,200,000 served; estimated 138,000 killed

Waffen SS estimated 900,000 served; estimated 314,000 killed

1,419,728 estimated number of German troops killed or wounded on the Eastern Front