During the Red Terror one place where hostages were shot in Nizhny Novgorod was the edge of the Pochainsky Ravine, which was adjacent to city Cheka building. The bodies of the executed were buried where they were shot or taken to the Mochalny Island in the Volga. It is not known how many were buried in the ravine between 1918 and 1922.
In 2002 a wooden cross in memory of those shot was erected on the edge of the Pochainsky Ravine. Soon unidentified persons took it down. On 5 September 2004 the Nizhny Novgorod Memorial society successfully erected a new cross with the inscription: “Here in the Pochainsky Ravine citizens of Nizhny Novgorod were shot and buried, victims of the Communist terror”. In 2005 the cross was again dismantled.
On 30 October 2017, thanks to the activists S. Novikov and S. Dmitrievsky, a new cross was erected. It bears these words on its plaque: “In memory of the citizens of Nizhny Novgorod who were shot by the Cheka in the Pochainsky Ravine during the Red Terror”.
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5 September
|
Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Red Terror
|
Commission for Restoration of the Rights of Rehabilitated Victims of Political Repression, Memorial society and Nizhny Novgorod human rights association
|
city residents, clergy
|
Annual Event
|
|
nk
|
Commemorative Services
|
nk
|
nk
|
From time to time
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
have not survived
|
not determined
|
not delineated
|
[ original texts and hyperlinks ]
I.M. Favorskaya, “Activities to restore the rights and immortalize the memory of inhabitants of Nizhny Novgorod who were victims of political repression”, Materials of the educational and scholarly conference on Political Repression in the Nizhny Novgorod region: Marking 20 years since the government established the Day in Commemoration of the Victims of Political Repression, Nizhny Novgorod, 2012
“Rights activists detained for restoring the cross at the Pochainsky Ravine”, NN.ru, 30 October 2017 [retrieved, 28 May 2022]
*
Reply by the Nizhny Novgorod City department for culture (№ 18-495/14-ns of 08 May 2014) to a formal enquiry by RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
