Personal data

Name: Unknown Serbian PoW
Age: 30
Date of birth: –
Place of birth: –
District (current): –
Date and place of death: 09-07-1917, Nieuw-Statenzijl
Name on Monument in Garderen: –

Military unit

Rank: –
Military unit: –

Official Dutch death certificate

Dutch certificate number: Beerta 1917 No. 36
Name: onbekend manspersoon
Age: 30
Town: –
Death: 09.07.1917
Place of death: Nieuw-Statenzijl
Family information: –

On 9 July 1917 an ‘unknown man, probably of Serbian nationality’ drowned at Nieuw-Statenzijl in the Westerwoldse Aa, which forms the border between Germany and Netherlands in the north-east of the country. He was buried on 2 July 1917 on the cemetery in Nieuw-Beerta.

On 21 August 1918 the mayor of Beerta placed a small commemorative monument on the grave with the following text: “Toen deze krijsgevangenen Serviër uit Duitschland vlood / Vond hij aan d’oever van het land der vrijheid zijnen dood”, meaning when this Serbian prisoner of war fled from Germany, he met his death on the shores of the land of freedom. The monument no longer exists, but the grave is still there on the cemetery.