In 1940-1941 the Stary Vukhtym special settlement was used to accommodate families of Polish citizens deported from territory occupied by the USSR in autumn 1939. The deportees were mainly engaged in forestry work, growing potatoes and preparing bricks. Those who died were buried according to Catholic rites in individual graves. The graveyard was in coniferous forest 750 metres north of the settlement. The numbers who died are unknown; local inhabitants recall that about 30 people were buried there.
In 1999 the graveyard was studied by a local history expedition of Vukhtym secondary schoolchildren. Fragments of crosses and grave markers were discovered. One of the latter carries the inscription: “Tu spoczywa SW PAY Piotr Kita. Niech Zywi Nie Traca Nadzieji . Przeżył 56 lat. Zmarł 14/I R.P. 1941 / Here lies Piotr Kita. May the Living not Despair. He died, aged 56, 14 January 1941, RIP”. In 2011 the graveyard was studied by pupils of the Obyavchevo middle school who made a photo survey and drew up a plan of the locality.
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
About 20 burial mounds have survived; broken crosses
|
200 х 200 metres
|
not delineated
|
[ Original texts & hyperlinks ]
L.A. Maximova, V.A. Zhigalova, “Polish exile in the Priluzsky district of the Komi ASSR”, Hard Labour and Exile in the Russian North, Arkhangelsk, 2004
Reply from the Priluzsky district administration (№ 01/13-3972 of 10 July 2014) to a formal enquiry by RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
