In 1942-1948 sub-divisions of Bakallag were based in the Metallurgical district of Chelyabinsk. The prisoners built and serviced the Metallurgical Combine. More than half of their number were Soviet German forced labourers. In 1942-1944 the prisoners and forced labourers who died were buried in the camp cemetery seven kilometres from Pershino settlement. They were buried in trenches without any distinguishing markers. The numbers then buried have not been established: researchers estimate there were between 20,000 and 30,000. In mid-1943 part of the cemetery became the slag-disposal area of the combine and was flooded with liquefied metal waste.

In the 1970s the rest of the cemetery was used by the Metallurgical Combine for its farm and garden plots. In late 1989 the Centre for German Culture and the Catholic community of Chelyabinsk proposed that the 8 hectares of the cemetery plot be taken out of cultivation: a fence was erected, poplar trees were placed along the fence and a central avenue was created. In 1993 a granite pillar was erected. It is engraved with words from Akhmatova’s Requiem: “I would like to remember them all by name” and a metal plaque below carried the text:

“Hier ruhen in Gott Trudarmisten – die Opfer des Stalinismus, 1942-1945” (Here in the peace of God lie forced labourers, the victims of Stalinism).

Subsequently the metal parts of the monument were stolen. The cross was lost and the metal plaque, found at the processing centre for non-ferrous metals, was given to the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary [74-02]. In 2004 remains were exhumed from one of the common graves to create a symbolic grave as part of the memorial complex in the grounds of the church.