Mariinsk town cemetery (c) Execution & burial site | Russia's Necropolis of Terror and the Gulag

Mariinsk town cemetery (c) Execution & burial site

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№42-06

Date of burial
1937-1939
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Address
Kemerovo Region, Mariinsk, Palchikov Street
Access in a populated area
Public transport
On foot
Visiting Hours or Restrictions
Visiting hours
Type of burial
Secret interment of executed
Current use
Ceremonial events
Presence of memorials, etc.
Yes
Protected status
Not protected
Фотография 2010 года
Фотография 2010 года
Background

In 1937-1938, during the Great Terror, inhabitants of Mariinsk and Siblag prisoners condemned to death were executed on wasteland next to the city cemetery, behind the gunpowder warehouse, and their bodies were also buried there. Long-term residents knew of the site and, in particular, former railway linesman V.F. Kosenko told his daughter in the early 1960s that executions had taken place there.

Subsequently, the area was included within the cemetery and new burials were made there. From  the 1950s to the 1970s the remains of those executed were constantly found during new interments. In 2011, the cemetery was closed for any further burials.

The relatives of archpriest Georgy Nepomnyashchikh, who was shot in 1937, long sought his last resting place and in November 2007, with the help of local enthusiasts, it was found. On 5 August 2007, on the section of the cemetery where the executed were buried, a five-metre wooden cross was erected with a marble plaque reading: “Remember, O Lord, in eternal peace the archbishops, bishops, and all priests, monks and novices who served you and were repressed, here and in other places, and grant them access to your heavenly mansions”. Archpriest Alexei Baranov was behind the erection of the cross and requiem masses are conducted here from time to time.

Nearby are four graves of priests deported to the Kuzbass in the 1930s with members of their families. The memorial site is maintained by those training to be priests on local theological courses.

Books of Remembrance

A Book in Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression in the Kemerovo Region (2 vols. 1995-1996) includes 6,270 biographical entries for those shot or sent to the Gulag.

Ceremonies
DateNature of ceremoniesOrganiser or responsible personParticipantsFrequency
summer
Commemorative Services and religious processions
incumbent of the town's church of St Nicholas
congregation
From time to time
Nature of area requiring preservation
State of burialsAreaBoundaries
Have not survived
not established
not delineated
Administrative responsibility and ownership, informal responsibility for the site
On land under the control of the Mariinsk town district administration

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