Mass Graves and Memorials
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, numerous mass graves filled with executed victims of the terror were discovered. Some, such as the killing fields at Kurapaty near Minsk and Bykivnia near Kiev, are believed to contain up to 200,000 corpses.
In 2007, one such site, the Butovo firing range near Moscow, was turned into a shrine to the victims of Stalinism. Between August 1937 and October 1938, more than 20,000 people were shot and buried there.
Read more about this topic: Great Purge
Famous quotes containing the words mass, graves and/or memorials:
“As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If they once understand themselves the ruling men will be lost.”
—Ernest Renan (1823–1892)
“With a whirl of thought oppressed
I sink from reverie to rest.
An horrid vision seized my head,
I saw the graves give up their dead.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“Our public monuments are memorials to the Enlightenment.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)