Mystery solved after 109 years: Miloš persistently searched for his great-great-grandfather’s grave in Germany, then discovered another 11 forgotten Serbian her

After years of searching through Serbian and German archives, old military lists and church records, Miloš Simić (42) from Belgrade managed to find the grave of his great-great-grandfather Svetozar Milošević, a Serbian soldier who died in Germany as a prisoner of war during the First World War. After 109 years, his family has finally learned where he rests.

While searching for him, Miloš also managed to establish the identities of another 11 Serbian soldiers who, like his great-great-grandfather, died in the camp in Meissen and rested far from their homeland for more than a century, without names on their crosses and without anyone knowing where to light a candle for them.

“When I was little, my grandfather Živojin, my mother’s father, constantly took me to the old part of the cemetery in the village of Šavac near Paraćin. He showed me the monument erected to his grandfather Svetozar and said that he had not returned from the war, since he was not buried there. His wife Sanda erected the monument to him in 1917, believing that he was dead. Today, we know that he was most likely still alive at the time and was being held as a prisoner in a German camp,” Miloš tells Kurir.

The son he never met

His great-grandfather Branko, Svetozar’s son, was born in August 1914, just two months after his father had gone to war.

“They never met,” says Miloš, who, while still a secondary-school pupil on a graduation trip to Greece, visited the Serbian military cemetery at Zejtinlik, convinced that he would find his great-great-grandfather’s name there.

Last year, he decided to begin the search again from the beginning, conducting extensive research through archives and military records and visiting museums.

The turning point came when, on a list of First World War victims that he found on the Ministry of Defence website, he discovered the name Svetozar Milošević. However, it stated that he was from Šanac near Paraćin.

“I knew that no such place existed. There is only Šavac. That one incorrect letter gave me hope that I was finally on the right track.”

He then contacted historians who had studied Austro-Hungarian archives and, through them, obtained his great-great-grandfather’s original prisoner-of-war record. From the document, he learned that Svetozar, a corporal in the Serbian army, was captured near Ražanj on 17 November 1915. He was first taken to the Braunau camp in Bohemia and then transferred to Königsbrück in Germany on 20 May 1916.

Miloš sent requests in German to historical archives, church communities and local authorities. More than 20 emails were sent to various addresses. The first reply came from Königsbrück. Svetozar was not there. But Miloš received a new lead — some Serbian prisoners from that camp had been transferred to Meissen for forced labour.

That information changed everything.

Wooden crosses without names in Germany

“At the beginning of March, the church community in Meissen contacted me to say that my great-great-grandfather was buried in the local cemetery. Another 17 Serbian prisoners of war rested beside him. They knew the name of only one other man. They stated that they did not know ‘why they came to Meissen’, where they had been forced to work or how they died. A photograph was included with the reply. It showed rows of old wooden crosses. Without names. Without markings. I do not know how to describe that feeling. You spend your whole life searching for a man you never met, and then, after 109 years, you finally learn where he rests,” Miloš says.

By comparing German and Serbian archives, Miloš managed to identify another eleven Serbian soldiers buried beside his great-great-grandfather. Thanks to this, the German church community decided to make new plaques bearing their names, which will soon be installed at the cemetery.

A family search thus grew into an event of historical significance.

A historical debt and a ceremony for the victims

“They invited me to come to Meissen on 16 July, when an official ceremony will be held. They told me that they were also in contact with our embassy in Germany, which had requested my details,” Miloš says, adding that he was particularly moved by the fact that German researchers and church-community employees searched the archives completely free of charge, even though such services are normally charged for.

“Their dedication restored my faith in people. For months, they searched for answers together with me.”

For Miloš, this is not merely a story about his great-great-grandfather.

“This is a story about people whom history forgot. About heroes who gave their lives for Serbia and were left without names. It is important that these people finally receive their names and their place in history. My great-great-grandfather died at only 25 years of age. He left behind a son he had never seen, and yet our family line, by the narrowest of margins, has survived to this day. Who are we if we do not know where we came from? We live from one day to the next, while forgetting yesterday. If we do not know our ancestors, we can hardly understand ourselves,” Miloš points out, showing us a list on which 22 December 1917 is recorded as the date of his great-great-grandfather’s death. But once again with the place incorrectly entered — this time as Šabac.

We shall disregard all those typographical errors, since after 109 years it has finally been discovered that Svetozar Milošević, a corporal in the heroic Serbian army from the village of Šavac near Paraćin, rests forever in the German city of Meissen near Dresden, close to the border with the Czech Republic. So that his grave may be known and a candle lit for him there. Eternal glory to him.

The search for descendants as well: Some do not want to remember their ancestors

After identifying the eleven Serbian soldiers, Miloš tried to find their descendants in order to tell them where their ancestors had been buried. Instead of gratitude, he often encountered indifference.

“I wrote to people on Facebook and called them by telephone, but most did not respond. One woman, to whom I explained that I was researching those who had died in the First World War, simply told me: ‘I’m not from the First World War,’ and hung up. At that point, I wondered whether any of this made sense, but I still did not give up. I realised that they deserved to have their names restored, regardless of whether anyone remembers them today or not,” he says.

About the Meissen camp

• - During the First World War, it was a labour subcamp within the German prisoner-of-war camp system
• - Serbian, Russian, French and other prisoners were brought from larger central camps and assigned to forced labour
• - They worked on the construction and maintenance of the railway, in quarries, brickworks and factories
• - Many died from exhaustion, malnutrition and disease
• - The deceased were buried in Meissen’s municipal cemetery, but over time the records linking grave numbers with the names of the dead were lost