Bykivnia
Encyclopedia
Bykivnia is a former small village on the outskirts of Kiev
, Ukraine
, that was incorporated into the city in 1923. It is known for the National Historic-Memorial Reserve "Bykivnia Graves".
During the Stalinist
period in the Soviet Union
, it was one of the sites where the NKVD
had buried thousands of executed, real or alleged enemies of the Soviet power
. The number of bodies buried there varies from source to source between "several dozen thousand," 30,000, 100,000 and 120,000, though some estimates place the number as high as 200,000 or even 225,000.
, the Soviet government hauled the bodies of tortured and killed political prisoners to the pine forests outside the village of Bykivnia and buried them in a grave that spanned 15,000 m2. So far 210 mass grave
s have been identified by Polish and Ukrainian archaeologists working at the site. During the Soviet retreat in the early stages of the Operation Barbarossa
, the retreating Soviet troops levelled the village to the ground. The mass grave site was discovered by the Germans along with many other such sites throughout the Soviet Union. However, following the discovery of the Katyn massacre
, the burial sites of Bykivnya was no longer part of German propaganda. After the Soviet recapture of the area in the course of the Second Battle of Kiev
in 1943, the site was yet again classified by the NKVD
. In the 1950s the village was reconstructed as a suburb of Kiev. In the 1970s the Soviet authorities planned to construct a large bus station on the mass grave site, but the plan was abandoned.
A single trace of the Bykovnia victims was found by the Polish émigré historians in Nazi German archives after the war. It was widely believed that, apart from the Soviet victims of the Great Terror, the site might be the final resting place of 3,435 Polish officers captured by the Soviets during the German and Soviet invasion of Poland
of 1939, and executed in the spring of 1940 in the Katyn massacre
, among over 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals. However, as the Soviet authorities denied any complicity in such mass murders, there was no way to confirm that the victims of the Stalinist purges were indeed buried there. During the Soviet times the fact about the place was numerous times brought up to authorities with the most famous one in 1962, for which one of the Ukrainian poets, Vasyl Symonenko
was beaten up by law enforcement agents and soon died in hospital from a kidney's failure.
It was not until the 1990s that the authorities of independent Ukraine
confirmed the burial of thousands there. On April 30, 1994, a large memorial to the victims of communism was opened in Bykivnia. Around the same time archaeological works started, with both Ukrainian and Polish scientists taking part. In 2001 the government of Viktor Yanukovych
proclaimed the will to convert the Bykivnia woods into a State Historical-Memorial Complex "Graves of Bykivnia". The plan was brought to life by Viktor Yushchenko
on May 17, 2006. In a step toward uncovering this part of Ukraine's history, Viktor Yushchenko
became the first Ukrainian president to take part in the annual Day of Remembrance ceremony on May 21 to honor the estimated 100,000 people buried in the mass grave on the outskirts of Kiev. "We must know the truth. Why did our nation lose more than 10 million people without a war?" Yushchenko said during the 2006 event.
Since 2006 Polish researchers have found a number of bodies of Poles, prisoners killed in spring 1940 during the Katyn massacre
. Apart from bodies, Polish researchers found everyday use things, such as a comb, on which the owner, an unknown Polish officer, carved several names, such as Franciszek Strzelecki, Ludwik Dworak and Szczyrad... (this potentially might be referring to Colonel Bronisław Mikołaj Szczyradłowski, deputy of commandant of Lwów's defense in September 1939). Also, a dog tag
belonging to Sergeant Józef Naglik, soldier of the Skalat
Battalion of the Border Defence Corps, was found on the spot. All the names belong to the "Ukrainian list" of Katyn massacre victims and serve as proof that Bykivnya is connected to the Katyn crime.
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, that was incorporated into the city in 1923. It is known for the National Historic-Memorial Reserve "Bykivnia Graves".
During the Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
period in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, it was one of the sites where the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
had buried thousands of executed, real or alleged enemies of the Soviet power
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
. The number of bodies buried there varies from source to source between "several dozen thousand," 30,000, 100,000 and 120,000, though some estimates place the number as high as 200,000 or even 225,000.
Burial site
From the early 1920s until late 1940s through the Stalinist purgesGreat Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, the Soviet government hauled the bodies of tortured and killed political prisoners to the pine forests outside the village of Bykivnia and buried them in a grave that spanned 15,000 m2. So far 210 mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
s have been identified by Polish and Ukrainian archaeologists working at the site. During the Soviet retreat in the early stages of the Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the retreating Soviet troops levelled the village to the ground. The mass grave site was discovered by the Germans along with many other such sites throughout the Soviet Union. However, following the discovery of the Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
, the burial sites of Bykivnya was no longer part of German propaganda. After the Soviet recapture of the area in the course of the Second Battle of Kiev
Battle of Kiev (1943)
The 1943 Battle of Kiev describes three strategic operations by the Soviet Red Army, and one operational counterattack by the Wehrmacht which took place in the wake of the failed German offensive at Kursk during World War II...
in 1943, the site was yet again classified by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. In the 1950s the village was reconstructed as a suburb of Kiev. In the 1970s the Soviet authorities planned to construct a large bus station on the mass grave site, but the plan was abandoned.
A single trace of the Bykovnia victims was found by the Polish émigré historians in Nazi German archives after the war. It was widely believed that, apart from the Soviet victims of the Great Terror, the site might be the final resting place of 3,435 Polish officers captured by the Soviets during the German and Soviet invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
of 1939, and executed in the spring of 1940 in the Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
, among over 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals. However, as the Soviet authorities denied any complicity in such mass murders, there was no way to confirm that the victims of the Stalinist purges were indeed buried there. During the Soviet times the fact about the place was numerous times brought up to authorities with the most famous one in 1962, for which one of the Ukrainian poets, Vasyl Symonenko
Vasyl Symonenko
Vasyl Symonenko a well-known Ukrainian poet, journalist, activist of dissident movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Ukrainian literature of the early 1960s...
was beaten up by law enforcement agents and soon died in hospital from a kidney's failure.
It was not until the 1990s that the authorities of independent Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
confirmed the burial of thousands there. On April 30, 1994, a large memorial to the victims of communism was opened in Bykivnia. Around the same time archaeological works started, with both Ukrainian and Polish scientists taking part. In 2001 the government of Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
proclaimed the will to convert the Bykivnia woods into a State Historical-Memorial Complex "Graves of Bykivnia". The plan was brought to life by Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
on May 17, 2006. In a step toward uncovering this part of Ukraine's history, Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
became the first Ukrainian president to take part in the annual Day of Remembrance ceremony on May 21 to honor the estimated 100,000 people buried in the mass grave on the outskirts of Kiev. "We must know the truth. Why did our nation lose more than 10 million people without a war?" Yushchenko said during the 2006 event.
Since 2006 Polish researchers have found a number of bodies of Poles, prisoners killed in spring 1940 during the Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
. Apart from bodies, Polish researchers found everyday use things, such as a comb, on which the owner, an unknown Polish officer, carved several names, such as Franciszek Strzelecki, Ludwik Dworak and Szczyrad... (this potentially might be referring to Colonel Bronisław Mikołaj Szczyradłowski, deputy of commandant of Lwów's defense in September 1939). Also, a dog tag
Dog tag (identifier)
A dog tag is the informal name for the identification tags worn by military personnel, named such as it bears resemblance to actual dog tags. The tag is primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded and essential basic medical information for the treatment of the latter, such as blood...
belonging to Sergeant Józef Naglik, soldier of the Skalat
Skalat
Skalat is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is located in the Pidvolochysk Raion , at around .-External links:* - Transcripts of eyewitness testimonies...
Battalion of the Border Defence Corps, was found on the spot. All the names belong to the "Ukrainian list" of Katyn massacre victims and serve as proof that Bykivnya is connected to the Katyn crime.
See also
- Dem'ianiv LazDem'ianiv LazDem'ianiv Laz is a mass burial site of victims of NKVD executions committed in the wake of the German occupation of Stanisławów , Ukraine in 1941...
, a mass grave site near Ivano-FrankivskIvano-FrankivskIvano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality.... - Great PurgeGreat PurgeThe Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
- Katyń MassacreKatyn massacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
- KurapatyKurapatyKurapaty is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, in which a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD.The exact count of victims is uncertain, NKVD archives are classified in Belarus...
, a similar mass grave site near MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, BelarusBelarusBelarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,... - SvirlagSvirlagSvirlag, SvirLAG was a Soviet forced labour camp run by NKVD's GULAG Directorate...
- Vinnytsia massacreVinnytsia massacreThe Vinnytsia massacre was a mass execution of people in the Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia by the Soviet secret police NKVD during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge in 1937–1938. Mass graves in Vinnytsia were discovered during the German occupation of Ukraine in 1943...
- Vasyl SymonenkoVasyl SymonenkoVasyl Symonenko a well-known Ukrainian poet, journalist, activist of dissident movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Ukrainian literature of the early 1960s...
External links
- Twentieth Century Atlas - Casualty Statistics - Bykivnia
- Bykivnia 1937-1941
- Ukraine reburies Stalin's victims
- Newsru.ua
- Ukrainians Honor 100,000 Killed in Forest by the Communists. New Tang Dynasty TelevisionNew Tang Dynasty TelevisionNew Tang Dynasty Television is a television broadcaster based in New York City, with correspondents in over 70 cities worldwide. The company was founded by Falun Gong practitioners...
, May 23, 2008 (on YoutubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
)