In 1930, Corrective-labour colony No 1 was set up in the Alatyr district by the Chuvash Republic NKVD. The inmates worked, for the most part, in the timber industry and related workshops. Among the prisoners were many priests and monks, over 80 of whom died in the camp. They were buried in a wooded area in individual and common graves. The exact number buried there is unknown.
In the 1950s, after the camp closed, the Pervomaisky settlement arose on the same site. In the 1990s a road was built across the burial ground. Today a narrow strip, 30-40 metres wide, along a wooded valley is all that survives.
In 2007, an archaeological investigation was carried out in the area on the initiative of hiero-deacon Josif (Klyuchnikov), secretary of the Cheboksary Diocesan Commission for the Canonisation of Saints. In 2009, a commemorative cross was erected and consecrated at the site. Made of wrought iron, it crowned the cupola of one of the town’s churches until the 1930s: thereafter it was concealed by residents of Alatyr and saved for posterity.
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According to the Unified State Register of the RF Ministry of Culture (Oct. 2023) this status of the site had been upgraded and it now has Republican/Regional protection.
Chuvashia. A Book in A Book in Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression (3 vols. 2009-2017) contains 7,756 biographical entries of those sentenced to death or sent to the Gulag.
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
3rd Sunday after Trinity
|
Commemorative Service
|
Diocese of Cheboksary and Chuvashia
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clergy and parishioners, inhabitants of Pervomaisky settlement
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Annual event (since 2013)
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
Part of the burial ground (30-40 metres wide) has survived; subsidence indicating graves is easily seen
|
not defined
|
not delineated
|
[ original texts and hyperlinks ]
A. Beglov, “A cross on the graves of our New Martyrs”, Vestnik tserkvi (Church Herald), Moscow, No 18 (415), 25 September 2009
S. Migulova, “Where the blood of the innocent was shed …”, Alatyrskie vesti, 23 July 2013
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Reply from the Alatyr district administration (№ 824 of 9 April 2014) to a formal enquiry by RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
Reply from the Chuvash Republic Ministry of Culture (No 05/23-2249 of 6 May 2014) to a formal enquiry by RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
