4-Meters Cross In Memory Of Stalin Repression Victims Installed in ‘Vitsebsk Kurapaty’

Everyone can visit the memorial on their own.

A metal cross has been installed in the outskirts of the forest near the village of Khaisy, where exactly three years ago human remains were found in unknown mass graves, Radio Liberty reports.

The height of the cross is over 4 meters, and it can be clearly seen from the highway Vitsebsk-Haradok, as well as from the railway running along the forest. The commemorative cross, established on November 12, is the beginning of the route indicated by signs: guided by them, everyone can visit the memorial on their own.

Since 2014, in the "executions forest" activists of the "Khaisy" initiative have installed 34 crosses. The first five were destroyed by unknown vandals, but then rebuilt.

27 crosses were installed near large pits where for three years they found remains — bones and skulls with bullet holes, as well as fragments of clothing and shoes.

Another 7 crosses are symbolic, they were installed at the entrance to the "executions" forest from different sides.

Indifferent citizens managed to identify the names of two possible victims who were shot in these places. According to old-timers, shootings in the forest near the village of Khaisy and Drekollie occurred regularly during the years 1937-38. Activists collected about 40 testimonies about Stalin's executions in these places. However, the local authorities do not take them into account and refuse to honor the memory of the victims.

Memorial events, as well as regular landscaping of these places, are carried out only by the Vitsebsk activists.