Executed as a firing ditch two meters deep and 300 meters long, it is accompanied by marble slabs with the names of those who were shot here from August 1937 to October 1938. A total of 20,762 people.
The names on the memorial are arranged according to the dates of executions. Most short list consists of 11 surnames, the longest - of 562, so many people were shot here on February 28, 1938: at the end of a short month, the Chekists needed to work overtime to fulfill the monthly plan of executions. Assuming that they worked around the clock that day, it turns out that they had to kill 24 people every hour. Five people every two minutes.
Going down into the moat, visitors symbolically find themselves underground, on a par with those who are buried nearby. At the opening, the chief architect of the memorial Alexander Zhernakov complained: he had not thought before that so much stone would be needed for the monument. But the names of a huge number of victims required a colossal amount of granite to perpetuate.
In the 1970s, thirteen large graves of the Butovo test site were disguised by the KGB as an apple orchard. Now it has become part of the memorial. At the very end of it, a large bell was installed: anyone can hit it, and the opening of the monument was accompanied by a continuous booming ringing.
The plots about the opening of the memorial were shown by all central TV channels - it seems that for the first time in a long time the word “repressions” sounded on them so often. Almost none of the officials came to the opening of the monument.
95-year-old Sergei Mikhailovich Shik came to the opening of the monument on September 27, although everyone last years arrived at the Butovo training ground a month later - on October 27. On this day in 1937, his father, priest Mikhail Shik, was shot here, later recognized as a new martyr.
The fate of Father Michael was unknown for a long time. Trying to get at least some written evidence about the fate of her husband, his wife Natalya Dmitrievna Shakhovskaya-Shik came to Kuznetsky, pleaded deafness and asked her to write her husband's sentence. In response, she was handed a note written in childish handwriting with an error: "no right to correspond." Never again was this verdict, which actually meant execution, written on paper, Father Mikhail's family did not understand what it meant, and waited.
“We believed that my father would return, we even calculated how old we would be then,” recalls Sergei Mikhailovich. He found out that his father had been shot when a friend of the family, academician Vernadsky, sent a request to the OGPU. They explained to him over the phone that Mikhail Shik had been shot, but the date of the execution was given incorrectly. real family I found out only after the rehabilitation of Father Mikhail in 1956, and the place of burial - in the 90s, when the Butovo execution lists were discovered by the efforts of "Memorial".
Since then, Sergei Mikhailovich went to Butovo every year. “By the 1990s, everything was overgrown with weeds, the ditches were collapsed,” he recalls. - When a wooden church was being built at the firing range, my nephew, an archaeologist, had to carry out excavations so that the church would not fall into the execution ditch. He opened the edge of the ditch and said that, judging by the density of packing of bodies that he saw, not 20 thousand people were buried there, but several times more.”
Mikhail's father's wife, Natalya Dmitrievna, died of tuberculosis in 1942, without waiting for news of him. Before her death, she left a letter for her husband, who was shot five years ago: “My dear, priceless friend! My last spring has already passed. And you? Still mysterious, mysterious is your destiny. There is still hope that you will return. But we won’t see each other again, but how I wanted to wait for you. But there is no need to regret it. Having met, it would be even more difficult to leave, but it’s time for me ... "
Cold piercing wind, sleet. And about 200 people in front of the new monument are relatives of those who died in the crash of Kogalymavia Flight 9268. They can be recognized by the flowers in their hands and the tears that freeze on their eyelashes.
FLY AND LAND
Banner with photos of 224 people who soared into the sky over Sharm el-Sheikh, but never returned home. Military band. A corridor made of slabs cast from Corten steel. 224 names are carved on them.
In the center are three stainless steel cylinders, a kind of improvised organ. IN windy days a hum will be heard here, reminding that the plane must fly and land.
Rostvenniks held portraits of dead relatives in their hands Photo: Oleg GOLD
Next to the memorial is an alley of still very thin maples. It seems that they are tied to pegs, connected by a single thread. As well as the people who were connected by this terrible day. Klenov 107, a tree for each orphaned family. They wanted to plant 224, but there would not be enough space.
Opposite, across the path, there are 25 small green Christmas trees, a reminder that 25 children became victims of the plane crash.
Trees planted in memory of children who died in the crash Photo: Oleg GOLD
The memorial was laid exactly one year ago. September 6, 2016 government Leningrad region chose the option of a monument to the victims of the Sinai plane crash from 28 submitted options. The winner was the project "Garden of Memory". And now, a year later, the garden turned green.
LIVING MEMORY
The Minister of Transport of Russia Maxim Sokolov at the opening of the monument expressed his gratitude to the Governor of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko and officials for giving all possible support to "those who will now be remembered all their lives." He also announced the beginning of a moment of silence.
“We are opening not just a memorial, but an alley of living trees, a reminder of those whose lives were cut short. They flew happy, they wanted to talk about their vacation ... - Alexander Drozdenko interrupted the silence.
The ceremony was attended by the governor of the Leningrad region Alexander Drozdenko. Photo: Oleg GOLD
We are opening not just a memorial, but an alley of living trees, a reminder of those whose lives were cut short. They flew happy, they wanted to talk about their vacation ..., - interrupted the silence Alexander Drozdenko.
The governor of the 47th region noted that everyone can sit down and relax in the garden of memory, because benches are installed on the alley, and the memorial is illuminated. Relatives will be able to plant their tree here and take care of it.
– The graves are scattered around different places, and here, at this memorial, relatives will be able to gather, - he added. - Memory is the main thing that we have.
He was followed by the Chairman of the Committee on social policy Alexander Rzhanenkov.
“Our sacred task is to remember,” the official noted. And do everything possible to prevent this from happening again in the future.
CREATIVITY, INSTANT AND ETERNITY
The founder of the Flight 9268 charity fund, Valery Gordin, who lost his son Leonid over Sinai, could hardly restrain his emotions.
“Two years ago we were told at Crowne Plaza that they were gone,” Gordin recalled. - We realized that life will not be the same as before. We had to learn to live with this memory. We have united. And it helped... Not only relatives need memory: we used to be like you, but we all walk under the same sky. And God forbid that this cup passed by everyone.
The memorial was sprinkled with holy water Photo: Oleg GOLD
Amalia Vishneva, the mother of 27-year-old customs inspector Armen Vishnev, who died in a plane crash, presented a book in memory of the Light of the Eternal Trail. The woman held the first copy in her hands. On the cover there are clouds, a stopwatch and a feather as symbols of eternity, moments and creativity.
The governor was shown the book of memory "Light of the eternal trail" Photo: Oleg GOLD
The 456-page book, which the authorities of the Leningrad region helped publish, consists of photographs and poems dedicated to the dead. For each - a reversal. In total, there are 170 authors in the book of creation, among which 40 poems were written by relatives and friends of the victims.
“For the first decade of 2016, we counted more than one and a half thousand poems dedicated to the tragedy over Sinai,” Vishneva said. Every word is like a tear...
THE WAY TO HEAVEN
- Hopelessness, emptiness ... It seemed that we could not live on, but the whole country responded to tears, - said at the monument Oksana Fedorovawho lost her parents in Egypt Alla and Alexander Radlevich. - This garden will bloom and live, like our memory.
Bishop Ignatius of Vyborg and Priozersky performed a prayer service at the memorial and sprinkled the monument with holy water. Relatives crossed themselves, sobbing. Someone kissed the portraits of their dead loved ones brought with them.
The opening of the monument was marked by the launch of 224 white balloons into the air. Photo: Oleg GOLD
The opening of the monument was marked by the launch of 224 white balloons into the air, which symbolized innocent souls who had gone to heaven. Some balls clung to the trees, as if not wanting to leave.
Finally, relatives, as well as officials, laid flowers at the monument. All 224 names were read over the monument.
On Butovo training ground the "Garden of Memory" was opened - the largest monument in Russia at the burial site of the victims mass repression. In the late 1930s, more than 20,000 people were shot there. To help families find desired name on the stove, a computer base has been created. In memory of those who died today, people brought flowers and lit candles.
Valentina Alekseevna arrived long before the official opening ceremony. Couldn't wait any longer.
“For 76 years I was looking for him, I didn’t know I was looking for my father. Dont know. And just found it. Daddy, why him, dear?!” - the daughter of the repressed Valentin Tibichev is perplexed.
And there are 20 thousand 762 similar stories here. That is how many people were shot at the Butovo training ground during the repressions only in 1937-38. Their names are carved in even rows on granite slabs in chronological order. By date of execution. Today the bell tolls for them.
“Simonin Vasily, he collected signatures against closing the temple. For this he was shot. Plus, he didn't want to join the collective farm. He lived in the Moscow region. He was 40 years old, had four children,” says the granddaughter of the repressed Olga Burova.
“My cousin Orlov Vasily Vasilyevich. Lived in Maloyaroslavets, was a lawyer. I would like to say to the people of Russia: do not forget this great blood, this is also our bitter page, and you cannot just turn away from it, ”says the granddaughter of the repressed Alexander Bekorevich.
When in 1937 the NKVD issued a decree "On the operation of repression former kulaks, criminals and other anti-Soviet elements”, executions were put on stream, Moscow cemeteries could no longer cope with the scale of burials. Then the Butovo test site became huge mass grave. 13 ditches with a total length of 900 meters. In just one day, February 28, 1938, 562 people were killed here by a shot in the back of the head. The memorial, opened on September 27, 2017, is made just in the form of a firing ditch.
“We go down approximately to the level at which we are nearby, about 100-150 meters away, in other ditches are the remains of the dead. We need this in order to develop further. Because these people, then affected, are our roots. Our spiritual roots,” says the rector of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo, Archpriest Kirill Kaleda.
The memorial was called the "Garden of Memory". Indeed, since the 70s, there are a lot of apple trees. The next generation of those trees today became part of the memorial complex.
“Our poet Alexander Tvardovsky said it best of all in his poem “By the Right of Memory”. He said: “Whoever hides the past jealously is unlikely to be in harmony with the future,” recalled the president of Russian public fund Alexander Solzhenitsyn" Natalia Solzhenitsyn.
The "Garden of Memory" has become the largest memorial in Russia at the burial site of the victims of mass repressions.
“If you draw pink pictures of our history, where only victories appear, then this will lead to the fact that the younger generation will be unarmed in the face of that terrifying fanaticism, mixed with complete ruthlessness towards human personality, human dignity which led to this terrible tragedy”, - said Vladimir Lukin, a member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
300 meters of slabs two meters high. Each surname on granite contains not only the history of a particular family, but of the whole country.
September 27, 2017 by blessing His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Chairman of the Church and Public Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for perpetuating the memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, consecration of the Garden of Memory memorial at the Butovo training ground.
The monument is dedicated to the victims of the repressions of 1937-38 who were shot and buried at the Butovo firing range.
In an interview with a correspondent of the website of the Moscow City Diocese about upcoming event said Archpriest Kirill Kaleda, rector of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo, Chairman of the Commission for the Study of the Feat of the New Martyrs and Confessors and the Perpetuation of the Memory of the Deceased Clergy at the Diocesan Council of Moscow, and Igor Garkavy, director of the Butovo Memorial Center.
Archpriest Kirill Kaleda: We hope that this will serve to unite our people
Much to our regret, this moment the state of our society is in a difficult position. People relate to history differently, and most of of our contemporaries does not want to know it at all. But without knowledge of history as the foundation of our development, it is simply impossible to build the life of the people. Therefore, the creation of such a memorial as the "Garden of Memory" is one of the important stones in the foundation of our future and preservation historical memory our people.
I must say that the Church approached this issue very delicately. The monument is erected not only to the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christians, but to all those who suffered from the repressions in Butovo, regardless of their religion, nationality, and even regardless of whether the person was rehabilitated or not. The Church records the names of all those who suffered and were buried at this site, including the names of those who, at some stage in their lives, took part in the formation of a new regime and a new way of life in the Soviet Union. The Church hopes that this will serve to unite our people.
Do not think that those terrible times have passed, and you can forget about them. It is necessary to honor the memory of previous generations in every family, in every home. Collect materials about the lives of your relatives, study where they lived, what they did, pay special attention to the generations of the 20th century, and I think that in many cases it will turn out that one or another family member suffered, or even disappeared without a trace. So try to keep the memory of these people, tell your children about them!
Igor Garkavy: This is our contribution to perpetuate the memory of the victims of terrible repressions
On September 27, a grandiose monument dedicated to all the victims at the Butovo training ground will be consecrated. It was developed by us, in particular, the Memorial Center was involved in the creation of its concept. This monument has been the subject of discussion since the mid-1990s; it has been waiting for its implementation for a long time. All these years, the relatives of the victims who came here wanted only one thing: that their name loved one was immortalized. We saw how in other places like Butov, people spontaneously began to put up signs with the names of relatives. In Kommunarka, for example, people come and tie a photo and the name of an ancestor who suffered here to any tree. This, of course, makes an impression, but still it is chaos. And in such an important case, it should not be.
But there is more serious problem: someone's name, thanks to relatives, we will remember, but next to him lie another 20 thousand people. Who will remember them? This issue should not remain unresolved. We have been developing the very idea of perpetuating all names for a very long time, because even from a technical point of view, displaying 20,000 names on any medium, be it stone, wood or plastic, is extremely difficult, because the area is very large. In addition, another side of the issue arose. We were told: “How is it? Do you want to place the names of the New Martyrs on the memorial plaques next to the names of the criminals? After all, criminals were also shot here. Next to the names of the Latvian riflemen, who were once the beauty and pride of the revolution, and in the 37th year were put into "expenditure"? (Such a fate was prepared for one of the most famous assistants of Felix Dzerzhinsky, Martin Latsis, who was the bloody executioner of the times civil war)". And we seriously thought about how to solve this problem, how to place the names of everyone on these boards: heroes, martyrs, executioners, and criminals. But nevertheless, it was decided to perpetuate the names of all the victims in Butovo, rehabilitated and not rehabilitated.
It took a lot of time to agree on the concept of the monument and its technical solution. I proposed to make for this monument the shape of an open moat, or rather an open mound, because all the burial ditches in Butovo look like earthen mounds covered with lawn grass from above.
When relatives of people who were shot here come to the Butovo firing range, they often ask the question, in which ditch is my relative lying, in this one or in that one? After all, there are several of them. But the moats keep many secrets and mysteries, and, apparently, it will always be so, we will never know in which moat the Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov rests, and in which Martin Latsis. It is impossible to write over each moat the names of the people lying there. Therefore, we symbolically, as it were, push the ground apart and descend into this crevice along a special ramp, around us are stone plaques with the names of the executed, and these names are grouped by the days of the execution of the sentences. So we don't just read these names, we read historical document who did not divide people into criminals and holy martyrs.
The idea of dividing the names of the dead by day is also very important because the human mind cannot and does not want to contain the terrible truth that this was once possible, a person does not perceive such huge numbers, this fact becomes even somewhat mythical for him. . Therefore, it is very important to help him imagine the unimaginable number of victims lying in these ditches. Going down this pit, a person first passes one path, dedicated to 1937, which is 150 meters long, then the second, dedicated to 1938, the same length. The total length of the granite slabs on which the names are engraved is 300 meters. I see it as very important that a person descends precisely into the ditch, then he feels himself in the place of those who were shot and thrown into this pit. A person, of course, does not see the remains of the dead, because the memorial ditch was made twenty meters from the real burials, but it is on the same level, very close to the dead, and this makes a strong impression on the soul of a person.
In the center of the moat is a bell of memory that a person can strike. I know from my own experience that, having descended into this execution ditch, a person experiences such feelings that need to be expressed. Despite how many years we have been designing it, passing through ourselves, how many years I have literally been living in this memorial, and still, every time I went down inside, I felt very powerful emotions, and the bell is a universal metaphor for our common human memory of the past. Between these two paths, an apple orchard grows - a symbol of the fact that memory must live and bear fruit.
This monument is also unique in that it was created without the support of the state and representatives of other faiths. Only Russian Orthodox Church, or rather, the parish of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo, at the expense of the relatives of the victims, built the largest monument dedicated to them in our country.
This is our contribution to perpetuating the memory of the victims of those terrible repressions. We timed the opening of the monument to the 80th anniversary of the start of mass executions in 1937. Therefore, on September 27, we invite everyone to come to Butovo at 14:00. It is recommended to arrive an hour before the start, then there will be an opportunity to be among the first to walk along these paths along granite slabs and get a grasp of the names of those who rest at the Butovo range.
Interviewed by Elena Varova
The opening of the memorial will take place on September 27, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The ceremony starts at 14.00.
On this day from 12.00 to 16.00 buses from the metro station "Dmitry Donskoy Boulevard" will depart every 20 minutes. The entrance to the burial grounds will be opened from the side of the wooden church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.
The memorial "Garden of Memory" was built on the territory of the Butovo training ground with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'. Work on the creation of the memorial was initiated by the community of the Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
The concept was developed by Archpriest Kirill Kaleda and director of the Butovo Memorial Scientific and Educational Center I.V. Garkavy. The project was prepared by the architect A.N. Zhernakov.
The work was financed by S.A. Vasiliev, CEO GK "Video-International", the grandson of V.A. Petrov, and donations from citizens, especially the relatives of the victims. The construction was carried out by Helga LLC.
In search of archival information great help provided by employees of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, the archives of the FSB in Moscow, information center Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region, FSB for the Kaluga and Ryazan Regions.
One of major events of the outgoing week is the opening of the Memorial Garden of Memory on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at the Butovo training ground in Moscow.
This place is called Russian Golgotha. Only in the period from August 1937 to October 1938, more than 20 thousand people were shot here. On the granite slabs-walls of the monument, the names of all the dead, all 20,000 are carved ... The total length of the monument is 300 meters, the height is 2 meters. Today it is the largest memorial in Russia, which is installed at the burial site of those who suffered during the years of mass repressions.
Many are accustomed to thinking that - it was once a very long time ago, these are the first three centuries of Christianity. But a hundred years ago, here on our land, history repeated itself with no less cruelty. And on a much larger scale. The persecution of the Church began almost immediately after 1917 and continued throughout Soviet period. Their intensity and cruelty varied, but they were always there.
Do we keep this memory today, do we turn to the holy new martyrs in our prayers? Unfortunately, modern man, as in all times, used to turn to the saints to get something for himself. At the same time, without changing. Such, you know, pagan attitude to the help of saints. How to magic trick. We are looking for deliverance from diseases, from bad work, are looking for Good work, some other problems. I even saw such lists: “Which saint in which case to pray.” There, all the problems are painted, from losing a wallet to getting a groom. The funniest, and perhaps the most terrible, was an indication in one of the lists that one should pray to John the Baptist for a headache, apparently because ... they cut off his head: as they say, both laughter and sin.
We do not turn to the New Martyrs, because they do not help much with toothache. They strengthen in faith. In faith in Christ, without whom the life of a Christian is simply meaningless.
“The 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ has already arrived. For humanity, this is a time of debriefing. What can people bring as a gift to the Divine Infant Christ, what achievements can they boast of? In the field of economics? But there is complete uncertainty about tomorrow. In the field of state, political and social structure society? But all models of society are a constant source of conflict and among social groups, and between states. What is the result of two thousand years of existence can bring the world and Russia? The only indisputable result of the life of mankind during these 2000 years is the saints, people who have practically realized the highest moral ideal Christianity."
Saints are the only indisputable outcome of the life of mankind. This is true.
