Duvanny Ravine was used as a place of execution and burial between 1918 and the 1930s. Today it lies within the city limits. No name lists of those executed there have been found for the entire period of its use. Researchers say that in 1918 hostages from among the inhabitants of the town and the district were shot there. On a single day in 1919, 23 July, 200 people were executed. On 25 December 1929 60 Orthodox priests were shot. In 1937-1938 the execution and burial of the victims of the Great Terror took place there.
In 1997 a commemorative wooden cross was erected there. The inscription reads: “May we never forget our fathers, brothers and sisters, innocents slain in the years of tumult and militant atheism for the truth, for their faith and for the Fatherland”.
A Book of Remembrance for those shot in the Penza Region or sent to the camps has not been published. The Penza Memorial Society has prepared biographical notes on 7,930 individuals who were convicted by judicial (courts) and extra-judicial (troika) bodies.
Memorial’s database (2025) names 9,854 victims in the Penza Region.
It does not name any who were shot or sent to the camps. Drawing on police records and other sources it lists 9,841 deported from the Region with their families during collectivisation (5,231 as “kulaks”, 4554 in 1931).
| Date | Nature of ceremonies | Organiser or responsible person | Participants | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
25 January
|
Feast of Russia's New Martyrs and Confessors
|
Orthodox Church
|
clergy and parishioners
|
annual event
|
|
Commemorative Services
|
From time to time
|
| State of burials | Area | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|
|
not preserved
|
not determined
|
not delineated
|
[ original texts and hyperlinks ]
S.V. Zelyov, The Surskaya Golgotha. The Penza Diocese in the years of persecution (1917-1941), Penza, 2007
*
Reply from the Penza Region Administration (№ 2-23-1582, 15 April 2014) to a formal enquiry by RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)
