August 23, 2023

No Entry to the Cemetery


No Entry to the Cemetery
Pro-Kremlin activists block the entrance to the Levashovskoe Cemetery, holding signs that call Poles terrorists. Obshchestvo Memorial, Telegram.

On August 20, pro-Kremlin activists and Levashovskoe Cemetery employees blocked a delegation of Polish diplomats and human rights activists from entering the St. Petersburg burial site. The diplomats had gathered to commemorate those killed during the NKVD's "Polish Operation," a genocide that killed 200,000 Poles during the Great Terror.

To the surprise of the Polish delegation and the human rights organization Memorial Society, the gates of the Levashovskoe Cemetery were closed. Cemetery employees denied access to the mourners, claiming they were conducting a sanitary inspection of potentially hazardous trees. Simultaneously, the "Volunteer Company," a pro-Kremlin activist organization, picketed and blocked entry to the cemetery. Diplomats instead held a ceremony just outside the grounds, with the Consul General of Poland and diplomatic representatives of Germany, Sweden, and Norway in attendance.

In July, a monument dedicated to Polish victims of Stalin's repressions was vandalized and then disappeared. A source told TASS the memorial was being repaired, but the Polish Consulate continues to demand an explanation.

An estimated 40,000 victims of disappearances and executions of Stalin's regime lie in Levashovskoe Cemetery. Four thousand were Polish.

You Might Also Like

A Crackdown of Another Kind
  • August 14, 2023

A Crackdown of Another Kind

The State Historical Museum is getting stricter about the use of Russia's most iconic building.
Antidepressants on the Rise
  • August 03, 2023

Antidepressants on the Rise

Antidepressant use in Russia has skyrocketed over the last year, especially in St. Petersburg.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955