Lost Pavilion (2007)

• 67%
• 2007
• Said Adrus

Over 1 million troops from colonial India took part in WWI on behalf of the British Empire. 62,000 lost their lives while overseas. German propaganda suggested that Muslim Indian soldiers who fought for Britain were not being buried according to their beliefs, and in response the War Office opened the Muslim Burial Ground at Horsell Common, Woking, in 1917. Nineteen Muslim Indian soldiers who died in Britain during WWI were buried at the cemetery. The Muslim Burial Ground continued to be used during World War II, but became derelict after the wars. The graves were subjected to racist vandalism, prompting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to reinter the bodies at Brookwood Military Cemetery in 1969. Adrus' footage of the Muslim Burial Ground shows the site before it was restored as a Peace Garden in 2015. Using photographs, archival footage and interviews he reflects on issues around war, migration, empire and the affinity to place and country.