English

Crosses knocked over at Stalin-era massacre site near Minsk

Unidentified vandals have knocked over several crosses at Kurapaty, a Stalin-era massacre site just outside Minsk.

Perhaps some of the crosses got loose because of the spring thaw. But a few were definitely knocked down.

There is rubbish and traces of a fire at the Clinton Bench, a granite slab on two concrete supports that was donated by President Bill Clinton during his visit to Belarus in 1994. A car tire is smoking nearby.

Between 30,000 and 200,000 people are believed to have been executed at the site in Stalin-era purges in the 1930s and 1940s. The site, which is not patrolled by police, is regularly targeted by vandals.

A civil society activist who attended a commemorative ceremony held at Kurapaty on March 29 tells BelaPAN that only three crosses had then been damaged.

A woman, who is having a walk in the woody place with her granddaughter, says that she always drops here to pray at the cross with a copy of the Our Lady of Kurapaty icon. “On Sundays, a woman comes here after a church service to pray and take care of the icon,” she notes. “I see that someone has recently been here: there are fresh flowers.”

The woman says that some crosses are likely to have fallen themselves after getting rot at the bottom.

Youths rarely can be seen here, she says, adding that she once encountered a group of schoolchildren with a teacher.