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| Kurapaty |
Kurapaty is a forest tract on the north-eastern border of Minsk, where mass graves of those executed were found in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
According to the Belarusian prosecutor’s office, the tract was the site of mass executions and burials of repressed bodies of the NKVD in 1937-1940.
The number of victims today remains precisely unknown and, according to various estimates, can be: up to 7 thousand people (according to the data voiced by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of
Belarus Oleg Bozhelko), at least 30 thousand people (according to the data voiced by the Prosecutor General of the BSSR Georgy By Tarnavsky), up to 100 thousand people (according to the Belarus directory), from 102 to 250 thousand people (according to an article by Zenon Poznyak and Yevgeny Shmygalyov in the newspaper Literatura i mastastva), 250 thousand people (according to professor Wroclawsko University of Zdzislaw Vinnitsa) or more (according to the British historian Norman Davies).
Since 1993, the Kurapaty tract has been included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus as a burial place for victims of political repressions of the 1930s and 1940s. Kurapaty have the status of historical and cultural values of the first category, which, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage”, corresponds to the category of “most unique values whose spiritual, aesthetic and documentary values are of international interest”.
November 6, 2018, in Kurapaty with the sanction of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, a memorial sign was installed. It is a construction with a bell inscribed in four languages, official in the pre-war BSSR (Belarusian, Russian, Yiddish, and Polish) - “mother”, “brother”, etc. At the same time, in the center of the track on behalf of the Republic of Belarus a sign appeared indicating that it is “the place of death of victims of political repression of the 30-40s of the XX century” and “historical and cultural value”, and “causing harm is punishable by law”.
The number of victims today remains precisely unknown and, according to various estimates, can be: up to 7 thousand people (according to the data voiced by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of
Belarus Oleg Bozhelko), at least 30 thousand people (according to the data voiced by the Prosecutor General of the BSSR Georgy By Tarnavsky), up to 100 thousand people (according to the Belarus directory), from 102 to 250 thousand people (according to an article by Zenon Poznyak and Yevgeny Shmygalyov in the newspaper Literatura i mastastva), 250 thousand people (according to professor Wroclawsko University of Zdzislaw Vinnitsa) or more (according to the British historian Norman Davies).
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| Kurapaty |
Since 1993, the Kurapaty tract has been included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus as a burial place for victims of political repressions of the 1930s and 1940s. Kurapaty have the status of historical and cultural values of the first category, which, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage”, corresponds to the category of “most unique values whose spiritual, aesthetic and documentary values are of international interest”.
November 6, 2018, in Kurapaty with the sanction of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, a memorial sign was installed. It is a construction with a bell inscribed in four languages, official in the pre-war BSSR (Belarusian, Russian, Yiddish, and Polish) - “mother”, “brother”, etc. At the same time, in the center of the track on behalf of the Republic of Belarus a sign appeared indicating that it is “the place of death of victims of political repression of the 30-40s of the XX century” and “historical and cultural value”, and “causing harm is punishable by law”.
