From August 1937 to March 1938 (during the first eight months of the Great Terror) official sources say that at least 747 people, condemned to death by extra-judicial bodies, were shot in Boguchar.

In 2004 during work at a sand quarry [36-06] within the present town limits some of their remains were discovered. They were reburied in the town’s Severnoe (northern) cemetery, and a memorial was raised over the common grave. In 2007 five more execution pits were discovered in Boguchar, each containing the remains of between five and 12 bodies. In August 2007 the remains were solemnly reburied at the Severnoe cemetery. The following year, on 8 August, a granite pillar bearing the words “To the victims of political repression” was erected in the same location. In 2012 a decision was taken to combine the two mass graves into one.