News on the topic: political repression in the Soviet Union
20.04.2021 HRDs demand retrials and release of 3 more political prisoners
Joint statement of the Belarusian human rights community
03.02.2021 Belarus has 4 new political prisoners
Joint statement by human rights organizations of Belarus
20.06.2018 EaP CSF’s Belarusian National Platform defends protesters against controversial restaurant in Kurapaty
The Belarusian National Platform of the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership has issued a statement to “express deep concern” over the construction and opening of the restaurant Poedem, Poedim next to the historical and cultural site Kurapaty in Minsk.
19.06.2018 Legacy of Dark Days: Protesters penalized for honoring victims of Stalinist repression
The video created by the Human Rights Center "Viasna" highlights the stories of two activists from Minsk, 80-year-old Anton Vusovich and 66-year-old Vera Vakulovich. They were among a few dozen people who gathered on October 29, 2017 outside the KGB building in Minsk to participate in a memorial picket called Chain of Memory.
03.11.2014 Homel: democratic activists commemorate victims of repressions on the eve of Forefathers' Day
On the eve of the Forefathers' Day, November 2, representatives of the democratic forces of Homel traditionally commemorated the victims of repression in the Soviet years.
03.11.2014 77th anniversary of Kristallnacht of Belarusian culture marked in Baranavichy
November 1, Baranavichy social activists and human rights defenders marked one of the most tragic pages of our history: the 77th anniversary of the "Kristallnacht" of the Belarusian culture.
08.10.2014 Baranavichy activist applied for a picket to mark anniversary of Belarusian “Kristallnacht”
October 6, civil society activist appealed to the head of the Baranavichy City Executive Committee in order to obtain permission for holding a one-person picket in the memory of victims of Stalin's repressions.
22.08.2014 Minsk City Court dismisses appeal by Kurapaty campaigners
The Minsk City Court has dismissed an appeal by a group of activists campaigning for the preservation of the Kurapaty memorial, Radio Racyja reports. The City Court thus upheld the decision of the Tsentralny District Court. The authors tried to force the Prosecutor General's Office to implement its earlier order to remove all objects that were illegally built in the territory of the Stalin repressions memorial.
20.08.2014 Mikhail Kukabaka: History rewritten under dictation of another vozhd Putin
Mikhail Kukabaka, former inmate of Soviet labor camps, shared with Viasna his opinion about the destruction of the only museum to the victims of repression “Perm-36”.
05.11.2013 Heads of the Embassies of EU countries visit Kurapaty and Trastsianets
On 5 November the heads of the Embassies of the European Union and the Charge d' Affaires of the United States of America to the Republic of Belarus visited Kurapaty and Trastsianets, mass graves of victims of the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century.
05.11.2013 Baranavichy: public activists hold a cleanup near the cross in the memory of victims of Stalin's repressions
Following their tradition, representatives of the Baranavichy NGOs organizations and political parties held the cleanup on 2 November 2013, the “Dziady” (“Forefathers Eve”) holiday in the park near the Cross in the memory of victims of Stalinist repressions of 1939-1953, at the intersection of Pirahou and Slalenskaya Streets. Earlier, there was the prison “Kryvoye Kola” (“Crooked Wheel”), where many people were killed, and in 1992 civil society activists set the memorial cross in its place.
29.10.2013 Marathon in memory of Stalin repression victims starts with detentions
Today, on the Day of Remembrance of the victims of totalitarian repression, police detained participants of a mourning marathon and journalists, Radio Liberty’s Belarus service reports.
10.05.2013 Baranavichy: victims of Stalin's repressions commemorated on Victory Day
On 9 May civic society activists of Baranavichy commemorated the people who had perished during WWII and the times of Stalin's repressions. At first they laid down flowers to the Eternal Flame in the center of the city and then – near the cross to victims of Stalin's repressions of 1939-1953 at the crossing of Pirahou and Smalenskaya Streets (the place where "Kryvoye Kola" ("Crooked Circle") prison used to be situated). The iron cross was installed there in 1992 as a memorial sign to victims of Bolshevik repressions in Belarus.
02.05.2013 Memory about priests who were shot in Orsha (video)
In the 1920-1930ies the shootings of priests were conducted within the borders of the then Orsha (near Mahilyou highway, where suburb-3 is located). This place hasn't been marked in any way yet and there is no memorial sign there. According to local core researcher Yury Koptsik, local dwellers use it as a recreation place, being unaware they drink alcohol on the graves.
31.10.2012 Babruisk activists campaign to rename streets in honor of repressed writers
Mrs. Volha Pimanava, civil activist from the city of Babruisk, Mahiliou region, has launched a campaign to collect petitions in effort to rename the city’s streets in honor of two natives of Babruisk – writers Barys Mikulich and Siarhei Hrakhouski – who became victims of the Stalin-era political repression.
