In the 1930s-1940s, before and after the Great Terror, inhabitants of the Tarsky, Znamensky, Kolosovsky and other districts of the Tara okrug who were condemned to death for “political” crimes were held in Tara Prison. They were convicted and shot within 10-20 days of their arrest. In September-November 1937 and in March 1938 clergy and ordinary citizens were executed at the Tara district branch of the NKVD. Precise details about the executions and burials have not been found.

A list of those shot in Tara was compiled from the Omsk Books of Remembrance (1,444 names with additions that took the total to 1,900 individuals) and published on the unofficial town website. Local historians believe that the executed were buried in the brickworks quarry, now Nos 33 & 35 on 11th Street. Human remains were found there in 1989 during building work. This is presumed to be one of the places where those condemned by the OGPU-NKVD were buried. There was no expert analysis, however. The pit was filled in and the site was not officially documented. In 2001 a memorial “To inhabitants of the Tara district who perished during the years of repression” was erected in the town’s old cemetery.

In 2008 relatives of those shot appealed to the town administration to erect a memorial at the site of the burial on 11th Street: the reply stated that such places in Tara were not known. In October 2012 more remains were found on 11th Street – skulls with characteristic holes. This time a forensic examination took place. It established that the holes had been caused by bullets and the “bones had laid in the earth no less than fifty years”. The authorities did not permit archaeological investigation of the area since the street ran over the former abattoir.