Pavel Seviarynets: We Are Witnessing Last Convulsion Of Communist System

Activists told why the memory of Kurapaty is inconvenient for the authorities.

Activists from all over the country met in Minsk to find and organize places where executions took place in Stalin's times, Belsat reports.

During the meeting, participants noted that today's local authorities do not pay enough attention to the burial place of victims of Stalinist repressions.

“Back in 1990, the authorities installed a commemorative sign on Kabyliatskaya Hill, later a large boulder with a sign was installed, the sign was stolen. Then the policy changed, and the authorities abandoned this place,” says coordinator of the public initiative “Kabyliaki. Shot Dead in Vorsha” Ihar Stankevich.

And sometimes vice versa, instead of honoring the executed, monuments are erected to those who shot.

“A few years ago, in Mahiliou, a monument was erected near the KGB building, honouring the continuity from the Budenovka cap to today's service cap, that is, the NKVD, the Cheka, and all the rest. Opposite this building was the very inner prison, where in 1944 almost 130 people were killed in one night,” says Aleh Aksionau, an activist from Mahiliou.

The fact that the state does not pay enough attention to perpetuating the memory of victims is also believed by the residents of Mahiliou who we interviewed:

“Not so good at the state level, still in the shade.”

“In general, I don’t know such monuments in our city where attention would be focused on this problem.”

“Far from enough, I think, these issues are not raised particularly.”

The KGB archives have not been opened until today, so neither the exact number of the dead, nor all the places of executions are known. Pavel Seviarynets, co-chair of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, notes: the main problem in memorializing the victims of Stalinist repressions is the resistance of the state machine.

“We see that there is a heat of struggle, the last convulsions of the communist Stalinist system, this happens for one reason only: today, the authorities identify themselves with those who shot, not with those who were shot,” says BCD co-chair Pavel Seviarynets.

That is why the cause of protecting the burial places of the victims of the Stalinist regime should be taken over by the public, activists believe. The meeting participants united in a collective initiative - the Conference of Researchers of the Communist Terror.

“The authorities are not interested in disclosing information related to the repressions, and we see this, but the descendants of the executed people are interested and there is a great need, firstly, to know the places, and secondly, to receive documents from archives,” notes Ihar Stankevich.

Activists agreed to meet again in a wider circle in January. Then they plan to adopt a resolution and form a team to create a calendar of events, a meeting site, and a common base of burial sites.

The nearest actions to commemorate the repressed are the Night of the Shot Poets on October 29 and the traditional procession in Kurapaty on November 3. The Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front filed an application for the rally and demonstration.