Monument to victims of political repression, St. Petersburg: description, history. Monuments to victims of political repression in Russia

During the period of political repression , a large number of people died. People of different nationalities suffered from the hands of Soviet power. If a person was suspected of the slightest manifestation of anti-Soviet beliefs, his fate became unenviable. A monument to victims of political repression was established in one city in Russia - St. Petersburg became the first city to perpetuate these terrible events in the life of our country. It was installed in October 2016, and it is also planned to erect a monument in Moscow.

History

The day of remembrance of the victims of political repressions serves to honor the victims of the cruelty of the Soviet regime. On this day in 2016, residents of St. Petersburg gathered in various places around the city to honor the memories of their families, many of whom were sent to prison because of lies and slander, or killed under suspicion of Soviet power.

In the Soviet Union, the criteria by which people were labeled as dissidents were rather vague. But despite the reasons, the monument to the victims of political repression is set in honor of every person who suffered during this difficult period. They were people who did not want to give up their religion, farmers with excessive land, philosophers and writers suspected of anti-Soviet propaganda. In addition, a wide range of ethnic groups and nationalities were also subject to repression, including Poles, Germans and Crimean Tatars. Anyone who had even the slightest signs of anti-Soviet predilections was struck down by the iron fist of Soviet power.

Monument to victims of political repressions (Moscow)

A new monument to the victims of political repression will be erected on the Moscow prospectus of Academician Sakharov in 2017. According to documents on the government's website, Gos. Museum of the history of the Gulag put forward this initiative at the request of President Putin. After this initiative was approved by the Moscow Commission of the city parliament on monumental art in February 2015, everyone could offer their design, which will make a monument to victims of political repression.

According to official data, the memorial will be given the name "Wall of Sorrow". The lion's share of the funds for its construction should be allocated by the state. Also, a fund was opened, where people could contribute money to build a memorial. More than 750 000 rubles have already been collected.

Sculptor of the Monument of Political Repressions in Moscow

Vladimir Putin instructed to establish a monument, which will be created in Moscow, to remember people who suffered during this difficult time. In accordance with the document published on the website of the government, applications were made for the creation of a sketch, which will create a monument to victims of political repression in Moscow. It was decided to make a memorial on the sketches of Georgy Frangulyan, a sculptor from Georgia.

The memorial "The Wall of Sorrow," created by Georgy Frangulyan, appears, as reported, on the prospectus of Academician Sakharov. The monument is planned to be installed in October next year (2017).

Other famous works of Frangulyan: a statue of the singer Bulat Okudzhava, composer Aram Khachaturian in Moscow, as well as the rich tomb of former President Boris Yeltsin.

Who is the author of the monument in St. Petersburg

In the 1990s, memorials began to appear in memory of people who suffered and died at the hands of the Soviet authorities. The most famous of them is the obsessive work of the artist Mikhail Shemyakin, a prominent member of the Leningrad Union of Artists. He wanted to work without fencing himself, for which he was literally expelled from his native country. Only after a while he was able to return to his homeland.

Monument to victims of political repression in St. Petersburg

The famous Egyptian sphinxes on the University embankment became a prototype of two figures, which from a distance is almost not noticeable in the granite landscape of the Neva embankments in the city of St. Petersburg. The monument to the victims of political repression is better viewed near. From a close distance, you can see that the sphinxes are strangely exhausted, with protruding ribs. You can see that half of their faces are bare skulls. What this means, even a person who does not know about those events, can understand. In the country there is a shortage of goods, a famine. The number of people decreases. And the government is concerned about what people think and say about it. It was a difficult situation. But at the moment the consequences of these times are practically not reflected in modern life.

The top pedestals of the two sphinxes are decorated with bronze plates, on which are placed citations of famous poets and writers who were victims of repression. That is the signature of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and others. Between the two Sphinxes, which decorate the monument to the victims of political repression, is a composition of granite blocks with a window between them, symbolizing the window of the prison cell.

Number of victims of repression

Several million people are believed to have died during the repression in the Soviet Union, which reached its apogee in the massacres and the number of prisoners in the late 1930s under the leadership of Joseph Stalin.

Many historians argue that the most extreme periods of Soviet repression, such as the Red Terror and Stalinist purges, according to statistics, accounted for the largest systematic decline in the population. Despite Soviet rehabilitation in the post-Stalin years, the number of victims who could be the victims of repression amounts to tens of millions, and the number is growing to this day. Many of the names of these victims are still not disclosed. It is not easy to establish monuments to victims of political repression in Russia. These events can not be forgotten. Let everyone remember what is Soviet totalitarianism. These events should not remain on the sidelines, sprout forgetfulness.

A large number of names, whose list was drawn up for the general public, was read aloud at the memorials on October 30. During the meeting, it was pointed out the lack of attention on the part of the state to this topic.