The Soviet honor field is a burial site in the Netherlands were 865 Soviet soldiers and civilian forced laborers are buried including at least 84 Ukrainians (many soldiers are still unidentified).
One of those civilians is 21 year old Yekaterina Karpovna Tsokalo from Dubrovka near Kyiv, she was deported by the Germans and used as forces laborer.
**Note:**
The Soviet Honor Field state in their article that Yekaterina was a “Russian girl” likely because she was interviewed by the newspaper in June 1945. That article interviewed 4 woman from the Soviet Union 1 Belarusian and 3 Ukrainians, 1 of which was from Mariupol. Despite this, the newspaper still called the woman “little Russian girls”
**Translation:**
For more than 75 years it remained unclear who the girl was who was buried in grave 815 in the Soviet Field of Honor. Now she has finally been identified.
She had been buried under a bastardized name since World War II. Thanks to additional research by volunteers from the Soviet Field of Honor Foundation, it was established this week that ‘Katharina Zokolowa’ is in reality 21-year-old Yekaterina Karpovna Tsokalo from Dubrovka near Kyiv.
Ekaterina was deported to Germany as a forced laborer after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. She ended up in the Krupp factory in Rheinhausen, near Duisburg, where she had to do heavy work under appalling conditions with thousands of other Eastern workers.
In the chaotic final phase of the war, Yekaterina ended up in the Netherlands. Probably first in Limburg, eventually in Leeuwarden. ~~Russian~~ Ukrainian girls stood out there and several – probably including Yekaterina – were interviewed by the Leeuwarder Courier see https://sovjet-ereveld.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DDD_010609436.pdf
Jekaterina experienced the liberation in Leeuwarden. But due to the poor conditions during forced labor, she turned out to suffer from an incurable disease: pulmonary tuberculosis. Months after the war – on September 23, 1945 – she died. In the Sint Bonifatius Hospital in Leeuwarden. She was 21 years old.
Jekaterina was first buried in Huizum. On May 14, 1948 she was given a final resting place on the Soviet Field of Honor. Her family was never told that Jekaterina died in the Netherlands and has a grave. Volunteers from the Soviet Field of Honor Foundation tracked down her next of kin and told them what had happened to Yekaterina. Her niece immediately burst into tears. At last they knew where Ekaterina had gone.
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**Background**
The Soviet honor field is a burial site in the Netherlands were 865 Soviet soldiers and civilian forced laborers are buried including at least 84 Ukrainians (many soldiers are still unidentified).
One of those civilians is 21 year old Yekaterina Karpovna Tsokalo from Dubrovka near Kyiv, she was deported by the Germans and used as forces laborer.
**Note:**
The Soviet Honor Field state in their article that Yekaterina was a “Russian girl” likely because she was interviewed by the newspaper in June 1945. That article interviewed 4 woman from the Soviet Union 1 Belarusian and 3 Ukrainians, 1 of which was from Mariupol. Despite this, the newspaper still called the woman “little Russian girls”
**Translation:**
For more than 75 years it remained unclear who the girl was who was buried in grave 815 in the Soviet Field of Honor. Now she has finally been identified.
She had been buried under a bastardized name since World War II. Thanks to additional research by volunteers from the Soviet Field of Honor Foundation, it was established this week that ‘Katharina Zokolowa’ is in reality 21-year-old Yekaterina Karpovna Tsokalo from Dubrovka near Kyiv.
Ekaterina was deported to Germany as a forced laborer after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. She ended up in the Krupp factory in Rheinhausen, near Duisburg, where she had to do heavy work under appalling conditions with thousands of other Eastern workers.
In the chaotic final phase of the war, Yekaterina ended up in the Netherlands. Probably first in Limburg, eventually in Leeuwarden. ~~Russian~~ Ukrainian girls stood out there and several – probably including Yekaterina – were interviewed by the Leeuwarder Courier see https://sovjet-ereveld.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DDD_010609436.pdf
Jekaterina experienced the liberation in Leeuwarden. But due to the poor conditions during forced labor, she turned out to suffer from an incurable disease: pulmonary tuberculosis. Months after the war – on September 23, 1945 – she died. In the Sint Bonifatius Hospital in Leeuwarden. She was 21 years old.
Jekaterina was first buried in Huizum. On May 14, 1948 she was given a final resting place on the Soviet Field of Honor. Her family was never told that Jekaterina died in the Netherlands and has a grave. Volunteers from the Soviet Field of Honor Foundation tracked down her next of kin and told them what had happened to Yekaterina. Her niece immediately burst into tears. At last they knew where Ekaterina had gone.