Stichting Sovjet Ereveld

What Stichting Sovjet Ereveld does

Stichting Sovjet Ereveld (SSE) is a Dutch non-profit foundation founded in 2010 by Remco Reiding and headquartered in Leusden, Netherlands, with 12 employees. The foundation operates the Sovjet Ereveld, the only war cemetery in the Netherlands dedicated to Soviet soldiers, which contains 865 graves of World War II casualties from the former Soviet Union. SSE's core mission is to identify anonymous Soviet war casualties and trace their surviving family members across former Soviet republics — a research program that began in 1998 and produced the first successful identification in 2000, 55 years after the war ended, and has since informed more than 200 families of their relatives' final resting places.

In 2024-2025 SSE opened the Sovjet Ereveld Experience museum adjacent to the cemetery, combining a 10-minute introductory film, exhibition sections, and a 10-minute immersive VR experience that places visitors in the perspective of Soviet soldier Vladimir Botenko from battlefield through German captivity to a coal mine. The museum operates Tuesday-Friday 13:00-17:00 and weekends 10:00-17:00, with a 30-visitor time-slot cap, multilingual (Dutch/English/Russian) ticketing through tickets.sovjet-ereveld.nl, and pricing from €7.50 (students) to €11.95 (adults), with €100 group tours and €180 flat-rate school-class visits.

The foundation generates revenue through four streams: museum admission (per-visit transactional), the Soldier Adoption Program at €60 per grave annually (recurring subscriptions), general donations including "Steendragers" (stone carriers) and friend memberships, and project-based subsidies from Dutch ministries (VWS, BZ), Province Utrecht, Municipality Amersfoort, and embassies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. SSE holds ANBI public-benefit status, is independently operated (no parent company, no outside equity), and relies on annual commemorations at Monument Koedriest (April 9) and Dutch national memorial days as recurring engagement anchors alongside its educational programs for school groups and guided tours for organized visitors.

Name

Stichting Sovjet Ereveld

Legal name

Stichting Sovjet Ereveld

Website

https://sovjet-ereveld.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Stichting Sovjet Ereveld is a Dutch non-profit foundation operating the only Soviet war cemetery in the Netherlands and the Sovjet Ereveld Experience museum, identifying 865 anonymous WWII casualties and tracing their families across former Soviet republics.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

War Memorial Museum Services

NAICS

Historical Sites (71212), Museums (71211)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAJAAAC

Museum & Landmark Guided Tours (Skip-the-line/Docent-led)

Travel & Hospitality/Tours, Attractions & Experiences/Guided Tours (City, Cultural & Historical)

SECONDARYTHAKAGAN

History, Heritage & Museum-Focused Study Tours

Travel & Hospitality/Travel Agencies, Tour Operators & OTAs/Group Travel & Educational Travel Operators

Keywords

• War memorial museum
• WWII commemoration services
• Historical education tours
• Soldier adoption program
• Virtual reality exhibits

Headquarters

HQ city

Leusden

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Museum Admission: Ticket sales for museum entry at various price points for adults, students, adopters, and groups.
2. Soldier Adoption Program: Annual adoption of graves at €60 per year per soldier, providing a sustainable recurring revenue stream while connecting donors to specific fallen soldiers.
3. Donations: General donations and contributions from supporters, including friend memberships and stone carriers (Steendragers).
4. Project Subsidies: Project-based funding from government ministries (VWS, BZ), province Utrecht, municipality Amersfoort, and embassies of former Soviet republics for specific initiatives like museum construction.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Stichting Sovjet Ereveld operates the Sovjet Ereveld Experience museum and cemetery in Leusden, Netherlands, commemorating 865 Soviet WWII war casualties buried at the site. The offering combines a traditional museum with an immersive 10-minute introductory film and a 10-minute Virtual Reality experience following Soviet soldier Vladimir Botenko, alongside guided tours, school programs, a soldier adoption program (€60/year per grave), and ongoing identification and family tracing services for fallen soldiers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sovjet Ereveld Experience Museum Admission Ticket-based entry to the Sovjet Ereveld Experience museum in Leusden, Netherlands, including the introductory film, immersive VR experience following soldier Vladimir Botenko, and museum exhibitions about 865 Soviet WWII casualties. Available to individual visitors, families, students, adopters, and groups.
• Guided Tours for Groups Group guided tours of the Sovjet Ereveld Experience museum and cemetery, available by appointment for €100 per group. Offered mornings, evenings, and weekends for groups, schools, and organizations.
• School Visit Programs Educational school class visits with customized programs covering WWII history, citizenship education, Cold War context, and the Soviet story. School classes pay €180 per group and benefit from guided tours and guest lessons.
• Soldier Adoption Program Annual adoption of graves at €60 per year per soldier, connecting donors to specific fallen Soviet soldiers and ensuring ongoing care and remembrance. Provides a recurring relationship between the foundation and adopters.
• Project Subsidy Programs Project-based funding initiatives supported by Dutch government ministries (VWS, BZ), province Utrecht, municipality Amersfoort, and embassies of former Soviet republics for specific initiatives such as museum construction and identification work.
• Identification and Family Tracing Service Humanitarian service identifying anonymous Soviet WWII casualties buried at the cemetery and tracing surviving family members across former Soviet republics, providing closure to descendants of fallen soldiers. Over 200 families have been traced since 2000.

Quantifiable outcome

• First identification of a soldier occurred in 2000, 55 years after WWII ended
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Dutch Government (VWS, BZ), Province Utrecht, Municipality AmersfoortcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Government funding for museum construction and realization. Ministries of VWS (Health, Welfare and Sport) and BZ (Foreign Affairs), provincial and municipal governments contributed financially to the museum project.
• Restaurant ZuiverminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdjacent restaurant offering lunch, dinner, and meeting facilities for museum visitors. Convenient dining option located next to the museum.
• Nederlandse Oorlogsgravenstichting (Dutch War Graves Foundation)coreOthersResponsible for maintenance of the Sovjet Ereveld cemetery grounds. SSE advocates for improved maintenance standards.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• National Holocaust Museum (Nationaal Holocaust Museum): Dutch heritage museum focused on WWII memorialization and education. Highly comparable as a non-profit foundation operating a museum dedicated to WWII history with educational programming and donor/adoption-style support models.
• Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum): Amsterdam-based WWII museum covering Dutch resistance and occupation. Comparable in mission (WWII education, school programs, public visitor engagement) and as a non-profit cultural institution in the Netherlands.
• Airborne Museum Hartenstein: Dutch WWII museum at the site of the 1944 Battle of Arnhem. Comparable as a non-profit museum/heritage site using immersive exhibits and tied to a specific WWII historical location with school and commemorative programming.
• Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught: Dutch WWII concentration camp memorial and museum. Comparable as a non-profit heritage site with school programs, donor models, and exhibitions focused on WWII prisoner-of-war history.

Broad incumbents

• Anne Frank House: Major Dutch WWII memorial museum with international recognition. Comparable as a Dutch non-profit museum with educational mission, channel-driven ticketing, and immersive storytelling, though at significantly larger scale.
• Imperial War Museums: UK-based network of WWII museums. Comparable as memorial/heritage museums with educational programming, donor models, and donated artifact collections, though at much larger institutional scale.
• Canadian War Museum: National Canadian military museum with significant WWII content. Comparable as a non-profit memorial museum with educational mission, donor programs, and immersive exhibits, though at a larger national-institution scale.

Others

• Oorlogsgravenstichting (Dutch War Graves Foundation): Partner organization responsible for maintenance of the Sovjet Ereveld cemetery grounds. Comparable as a Dutch foundation managing WWII cemeteries and graves, and a key operational partner for SSE.

Regional players

• National Museum of the Pacific War: US WWII museum focused on the Pacific Theater. Comparable as a memorial museum using immersive exhibits and educational programming, though geographically distant and focused on a different theatre of WWII.
• Imperial War Museum Duxford: WWII airfield and museum site in the UK. Comparable as a heritage site using immersive storytelling and commemorative events tied to a specific WWII location.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stichting Sovjet Ereveld