Germany continues search for WWII soldiers, eight decades later

Nearly 80 years after the end of World War II, Germany is still working to locate and lay to rest its fallen soldiers. In a forest near Berlin, the remains of 107 Wehrmacht soldiers were recently reburied with full honours. High school students placed flowers on small black coffins, and German soldiers conducted a formal ceremony as a military band played solemn music. Villagers and relatives, many tearful, observed as these men — who fought in one of the war's final battles — were finally given a proper burial, reports UNB via AP.

This emotional ceremony reflects an ongoing, complex, and sometimes controversial mission to recover German war dead, a task still far from over. The work is carried out by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission), a nonprofit organisation that has been exhuming and reburying remains from across Europe for decades. Despite the passage of time, bones continue to be discovered in forests, fields, and beneath farmland.

This week, as the world marks the 80th anniversary of World War II's conclusion, the continued recovery efforts serve as a reminder that the war's impact lingers not only in memory and history but in physical remains still scattered across the continent.

Martina Seiger, 57, whose grandfather, Werner Novak, was found and reburied a few years ago, regularly attends burial ceremonies like the one in Halbe. Novak was only 21 when he was killed in the war's final weeks, with plans for marriage and a family tragically cut short.

Many of the remains are hard to identify or locate, having been hastily buried in chaotic wartime conditions, often without markers or proper documentation. Some are buried under modern infrastructure or in inaccessible areas, including active war zones like parts of eastern Ukraine.

Still, the Volksbund presses on, tracking clues from old maps, local accounts, and missing persons lists. When remains are recovered, they are transferred to cemeteries reserved for German soldiers who died abroad. The organisation emphasises its humanitarian aim — to ensure all who died, regardless of their role, receive dignified burials. It avoids glorifying the past, especially given the atrocities committed by the Nazi military.

At the recent burial, 83-year-old Wolfgang Bartsch watched solemnly. He has never been able to bury his father, who was killed on the Russian front in 1942. Raised by his grandmother after his mother also died in an air raid, Bartsch continues to mourn the lack of closure.

According to the Volksbund, over 2 million German soldiers remain missing. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, it has recovered over a million bodies. However, its work is not without criticism — some worry that honoring fallen Wehrmacht soldiers risks whitewashing the crimes of the Nazi regime.

Yet leaders like Volksbund Secretary General Dirk Backen insist the organisation's goal is about human dignity. "Every person has a story," he said. Standing before the grave of a young 18-year-old soldier, it's impossible not to wonder what dreams that person had before the war took their life.

In Poland, where deep wounds from the war remain, archaeologist Łukasz Karol helped exhume German soldiers' remains with care. Despite initial hesitation due to Poland's tragic wartime experience, he believes the work holds moral and scientific value: "They were also human beings. They deserve to be buried."

Today, few families actively search for missing relatives — time has dulled the emotional urgency. But for people like Bartsch, the need for closure hasn't faded.

"I still find no peace knowing so many are buried in unmarked graves," he said. "If I could just bury my father, my heart would finally be at ease."