The Voznesenskoe cemetery in Biisk (also known as the Central or Old Mount cemetery) came into existence in 1772. Today it has the status of a historical monument. During the war (1941-1944) Red Army soldiers who died in military hospitals were buried there; as were forced settlers in the city and surrounding districts (1940s-1950s) and post-war POWs and interned aliens (1945-1947).
In June 1990, the remains of 68 individuals shot during the Great Terror, discovered in the courtyard of the former building of the Biisk NKVD [22-05], were buried in a common grave. A temporary memorial (a cross and a nameboard) was erected and the Biisk Memorial Society began to raise funds for a permanent monument. In 1994, a granite pillar with the inscription “Here lie the remains of the victims of Stalinist repression” was erected. It was formally opened on 30 October that year. (Nearby stands a memorial to soldiers who died in the military hospitals of Biisk during the 1941-1945 war.)
Victims of Political Repression in the Altai Krai (7 vols. 1998-2005) includes biographical entries on 46,200 individuals who were shot or sent to the camps between 1919 and 1965.
The Memorial online database (2025) lists 46,525 victims in the Altai Region (Krai; BR 45,668).
15,028 were shot, most during the Great Terror (12,509); over 24,000 were sent to the camps; and about 2,400 were deported. Charges were dropped in 3,219 cases, 160 having died in custody. In addition, the database includes 857 names from police records with very little information.
(“Dekulakised” forced settlers from the Altai Region were very numerous, 47,184, in the Tomsk Region.)
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
30 October
|
Remembrance Day for the Victims of Political Repression
|
Biisk City department for public relations
|
public and clergy
|
annual event
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
The site reburial is well preservd
|
Memorial square
|
Delineated
|
[ original texts and hyperlinks ]
V.L. Sosnovsky, “Places of unbearable suffering”, Sosnovsky, Notes, Biisk, 2002 (203 pp)
“The Voznesenskoe (Staroe Nagornoe) cemetery, Biisk”, Virtual Museum of the Gulag [retrieved, 27 May 2022; no longer accessible]
*
Reply of the Biisk City Administration (No 972/01-15 of 18 March 2014) to a formal enquiry from RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
