Sandarmokh

The monument with writing: "People, do not kill each other".

Memorial to Ukrainians executed at Sandarmokh.

Sandarmokh (Russian: Сандармо́х; Karelian: Sandarmoh) is a forest massif 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia and the execution and burial site of victims of the Great Purge. Nearly 10,000 people of 60 ethnicities were executed during a 14-month period in 1937 and 1938.^[1] Many of the victims were from the nearby Solovki prison camp. The site is now a memorial.^[2]

Memorial cemetery

More than 9,000 bodies were discovered after the mass grave was found in 1997 by members of the Memorial Society and a memorial cemetery was established on the site. A number of stone monuments have been constructed to commemorate the victims.^[2][3][4]

According to the documents found in the archives of Russian Federal Security Service in Arkhangelsk, there were people of 58 nationalities.

Ukraine declared 2012 as "Sandarmokh List Year" in reference to the thousands of Ukrainian intelligentsia who were executed because they inspired the people of Ukraine, filling them with nationalistic pride and power.^[5]

Notable victims

• Nikolai Durnovo, Russian linguist^[6]
• Hryhorii Epik, Ukrainian writer
• Nikolay Hrisanfov (fi:Krisun Miikul), a Karelian writer^[7]
• Mykola Kulish, Ukrainian writer, educator, journalist, playwright
• Les Kurbas, Ukrainian theater director
• Valerian Pidmohylny, a Ukrainian writer
• Mykhailo Poloz, a Ukrainian politician, diplomat, statesman, and participant of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• Kalle Vento, Finnish journalist (fi:Kalle Vento)^[8]
• Mykhailo Yalovy, Ukrainian writer, publicist, playwright
• Mykola Zerov, Ukrainian poet
• Father Peter Weigel, Volga German priest ^[9]
• 141 Finnish Americans who had immigrated to the USSR and were shot and buried in Sandarmokh by the NKVD are listed by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, in their book In Denial: Historians, Communism, and Espionage (2003).^[10]
• 127 Finnish Canadians were also shot and buried there.^[11]

See also

• Krasny Bor Forest, Karelia
• Category:Peoples killed and buried in Sandarmokh (Russian Wikipedia)

References

1. "Захоронение жертв массовых репрессий (1937-1938 гг.)". Center for State Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Karelia. Republic of Karelia. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
2. "Sandarmokh"
3. "Pictorial essay: Death trenches bear witness to Stalin's purges" CNN, July 17, 1997
4. Урочище Сандармох. Захоронение жертв массовых репрессий (1937—1938 гг.) (Russian)
5. Kupriienko, Oleksandr; Siundiukov, Ihor; Tomak, Maria; Skuba, Viktoria; Poludenko, Anna. "2012, Sandarmokh List Year: how can we get rid of totalitarian legacy?". Den. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
6. "durnovo" query result (Russian)
7. Natsionalnyje pisateli Karelii: finskaja emigratsija i politicheskije Repressii 1930h godov: biobibliograficheski ukazatel = National Library of Karelia: Finnish emigration and the 1930 policy of retaliation: biobibliografical index, p. 40-41. Petrozavodsk: , 2005. ISBN 5-7378-0074-1
8. "vento", query result (Russian)
9. "Modern Martyrdoms"
10. John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, In Denial: Historians, Communism, and Espionage, 2003, ISBN 1-59403-088-X, Appendix: "The Invisible Dead: American Communists and Radicals Executed by Soviet Political Police and Buried at Sandarmokh", p. 235
11. John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr. In Denial: Historians, Communism, and Espionage. Encounter Books, 2003. ISBN 1-893554-72-4 p. 117

External links

• Пам’яті жертв соловецького розстрілу (Ukrainian)
• Known victims (6,403 names), query result (Russian)

Coordinates: 62°51′41″N 34°43′42″E / 62.86139°N 34.72833°E