The church of the “Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God” stands on Mariam Island, where the River Megrega flows into the Olonka River. During the Great Terror (1937-1938) those sentenced to death by extrajudicial bodies in Olonets were executed and also buried there. The exact number of victims is unknown. There is information that about 160 individuals were shot in Olonets between 8 September 1937 and 17 October 1938; the names of 146 are known. Old inhabitants recall that the church was closed in the early 1930s and stood empty until the NKVD blocked access to the island in 1937-1938.
In the 1950s when the building was adapted to serve as a museum many human remains were found under the floor. Some of them were thrown into the river. In 1992 the church was given to the Russian Orthodox Church. During renovation work the incumbent Father Victor (Kolesnikov) found skulls with bullet holes. By summer 1995 the gathered remains were preserved in the church. On 11 July 1995 they were reburied according to Orthodox rites in the town’s Kunelitskoe Cemetery. A wooden cross with a name board was erected on the grave.
On 28 May 2008, thanks to the efforts of Olonets residents, a pillar was installed at the site with inscriptions in the Russian and Karelian languages:
“In memory of the victims of political repression in the 1930s / The sky and earth remember, so does the Karelian nation.
Mustau mua dai taivas, dai karjalan rahvas Tädä vahingua-vaivastu… / Here lie buried remains from the Smolensk church, 11 July 1995”
The Commemorative Lists of Karelia, 1937-1938, compiled by Ivan Chukhin & Yury Dmitriev (2002, 1,087 pp) contain 14,038 biographical entries. The online Memorial database shows that 11,275 were shot and 1,958 sent to the camps, almost all during the Great Terror.
The copy of the lists held at the Russian National Library in St Petersburg names 158 who were shot near the village of Olonets.
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
30 October
|
Solemn ceremonies to mark Remembrance Day for the Victims of Political Repression
|
Olonets district commission for Restoring the Rights of Rehabilitated Victims of Political Repression
|
Relatives of the victims, district officials, clergy, local residents
|
Annual Event
|
|
Commemorative Services
|
Several times a year
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries | Other sites in same area |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The reburial is well preserved
|
5 sq m
|
Marked by a stone border
|
Church of the Dormition (a site of regional importance)
|
[ original texts and hyperlinks ]
“A memorial to the victims of Stalinist repression has opened in Karelia”, Novaya gazeta, 27 May 2008
M. Sizov, “Mariam Island”, Vera (Syktyvkar), 1999, No 239
Materials of an RIC Memorial expedition – archive of the Memorial Research and Information Centre (St Petersburg)
