On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska honored those killed at the Bykivnia Graves National Historical Memorial Preserve.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olena Zelenska also laid flowers at the Memorial Sign of Polish Burials.
“Now, when thousands of our people – prisoners of war and civilian detainees – remain in Russian captivity and are going through the same trials, it is important not to forget this. At all levels, the necessary efforts must be made to bring back each and every one of them. And above all, we must ensure that justice is served and that the criminals are held accountable for their actions. The free world has enough strength to ensure this,” the President and First Lady noted on social media.
From 1937 to 1941, victims of political repression who were shot by NKVD authorities in Kyiv prisons were secretly buried in the Bykivnia Forest. This is the largest burial site in Ukraine for victims of mass political repression. During the Great Terror alone, from 1937 to 1938, nearly 200,000 people were convicted, about two-thirds of them sentenced to execution. According to approximate estimates by historians and researchers, at least 30,000 to 35,000 people are buried at this site. Among them are, in particular, writers Mykhail Semenko and Maik Yohansen, artist Mykhailo Boichuk, and church figure Vasyl Lypkivsky. More than 3,500 foreigners – representatives of more than 30 nationalities, most of them citizens of Poland and Germany – are also buried in Bykivnia.
The truth about Bykivnia first became known after the Nazi occupation of Kyiv in September 1941. During Soviet times, information about Bykivnia was kept classified as “Top Secret” in the archives of the security services. In the early 1960s, members of the Creative Youth Club in Kyiv unofficially gathered materials about the repression. Among them were Les Taniuk, as well as Alla Horska and Vasyl Symonenko, who were killed. It was only in 1988 that it was officially recognized that victims of Stalinist repression were buried in this forest.
In May 2001, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution establishing the Bykivnia Graves National Historical Memorial Preserve. That same year, Pope John Paul II visited the site.