Moscow, Berlin Announce Project to Compile, Digitize Data on WWII Prisoners

Russia and Germany have announced a new project to search and digitize data on millions of Soviet and German internees and prisoners of war, the foreign ministers of the two countries said in a joint statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the joint statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the two sides intend to preserve the memory of the Second World War tragedy in the context of reconciliation between the two countries.

"In this regard, today, on the day when we remember the attack by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union, we would like to announce our joint intention to revive the names of the Soviet and German prisoners and internees, who's individual fates have not been documented yet and therefore to enable their descendants to commemorate them," the statement reads.

It was noted in the statement that the new project would be based on an earlier initiative carried out by the Saxon Memorial Foundation between 2000 and 2014 with the active participation of the Russian government and financial assistance from the German government.

The Russian Defense Ministry has been appointed to coordinate the new project from the Russian side, while the National Union on German War Graves Care are to coordinate the project from the German side.