Victims of political repressions commemorated on “Dziady”

Like every year, community activists gathered on Kabyliatskaya mountain near Orsha. This is the second officially recognized place of execution of civilians in the 1930s and 1950s (the first is the Kurapaty forest in Minsk).

At present there is a self-made monument there – a boulder, several memorials shields and two wooden corsses, a Catholic and an Orthodox one.

At the end of the 1990-ies the terrible truth about the mass executions became known, and a monument was set by Orsha authorities. However, it was a different monument – a stone with a shield, wihch was stolen by unkown thieves several times. Finally, the executive committee gave up the attempts to repair it, after which the accomplishment of this place became the concern of the local activists.

Mournful events are held there every year on 2 November, gathering some two dozens of participatns. These are not just local activists, but also those, whose relatives were executed there. They share their memories and bring flowers, though it is impossible to tell where each person was buried, as far Kabyliatskaya hara is a solid mass grave. It is still unknown how many people lost their lives there.

Poetess Yauheniya Kazlova read several poems about those times and the fate of the present-day Belarus. The people lit memorial candles under the crosses and white-red-white flags and laid down flowers on the memorial boulder.