Stalinist repressions in Minsk:19 sites. Map

05/04/2017 - 09:57

In 2017, Belarus' state security committee (KGB) admitted that executions in Kurapaty were carried out in the late 1930s by Stalin's security forces NKVD. The Ministry of Culture announced that a memorial sign would be erected in Kurapaty. However, one will not find the words "Stalinist repressions" in this announcement. Officially, the memorial will "reflect the idea of commemorating all innocent victims of the 20th century in the history of Belarus".

But Kurapaty is only one of almost two dozens locations in Minsk related to Stalinist repressions. In some of them, people were executed. In some, people were only buried. Historian Ihar Kuzniatsou who has researched this issue for many years releases the map of repressions. 

Ihar Kuzniatsou and his map. Photo: Euroradio

Strictly speaking, all the sites apart from Kurapaty are yet to be officially confirmed, because exhumations were not carried out and the documents remain top secret in the KGB archives.

The status of these locations vary. In some like Losyca and Park Caliuskincau, there are memorial signs. In some like Blahauscyna, the bones of NKVD victims are buried under a huge landfill pile.

Until today, the map has existed on paper only. Euroradio is translating it into the digital format:

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