The mass graves of the Great Patriotic War today remind us of the fiercest opposition of the Soviet people to fascism.
How mass graves appear
Mass graves occur when people are killed or killed in large numbers. First of all, this may be the result of fierce battles. It was then that the bodies of the dead soldiers were buried in one pit. Such burials are called fraternal because all those buried here gave their lives as brothers for one common cause. But this is not the only way to form a mass grave of people. The reason is also epidemics, when so many people die that there is simply no one to bury them one by one. It can be innocently killed in concentration camps or died from wounds and diseases in the hospital. The first appearance of group graves dates back to antiquity. Then they were called skudelnitsy.
Main Cause
The territory of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War was captured by the enemy for many kilometers from the border. On theoccupied lands formed mass graves of the Great Patriotic War. A huge number of such burials appeared for the same reasons. The first of them is that in the first months of the encounter with the enemy, the Soviet army was forced to retreat. There was no strength and time to bury all the dead on the battlefield. If there was even the slightest opportunity to carry out the burial of the killed soldiers and officers with honors, then they definitely tried to use it. There was no time to build a single burial for each soldier. Everyone had to be buried in a common grave. Initially, at least some kind of board was installed with the designation of the date of burial and the names of the buried. Often such inscriptions were made on improvised material. It became a tree, which is easily destroyed under the influence of natural factors. It quickly rots, it can burn out during a fire. Such pedestals could simply be used by other soldiers to keep warm or cook their own food.
Another reason for appearing
There are several more reasons why mass graves of the Great Patriotic War arose. War brings into people's lives unusual tests for everyday life. Overcoming hunger and disease becomes the most important task of every person. And a soldier in the trenches, and a civilian who, by the will of fate, ended up in the territory of direct hostilities. Hospitals could not help everyone in need. The sick, the wounded, the exhausted died. Group burials appeared next to each new location of the mobile hospital. Accounting is notalways seemed possible. And in the case when such a patient was delivered in unconsciousness and without documents, it was not possible to find out even the name. Therefore, often group burials were carried out only with an indication of the date of creation and the number of buried corpses. Hospitals moved after their troops. Along the way, new mass grave sites appeared.
The scariest reason
And, finally, the most terrible reason why mass graves of the Great Patriotic War appeared on earth. These are the orders operating in the occupied territory, which were established by the fascist authorities. The plan adopted by Hitler before the start of the war gave a clear idea of the so-called new life. There was no place for freedom, for prosperity in such a regime. For any disobedience to the authorities, everyone who showed this disobedience was sentenced to the only punishment - execution. Underground workers and partisans, any person suspected of having links with them, were massively destroyed. There are known cases of the destruction of all members of individual families or residents of entire settlements. The burning of all people in the village of Khatyn became a symbol of such barbarism.
An even greater contribution to the formation of group burials was made by the operation of the concentration camps that existed during the war years. Here the price of human life was reduced to a minimum. Killings were carried out daily and numerously. The bodies were dumped into dug trenches or ravines and sprinkled with earth.
Restore everyone's namesoldier
The war continues until the name of every soldier who gave his life for the Motherland is restored. This is the installation of numerous search teams that have taken responsibility and are turning their plan into reality. After the end of the war, many small burials were transferred to one larger one. This was done as part of a project to enlarge the mass graves.
As a result of the work carried out, numerous mass graves of the Great Patriotic War were formed. The list of the buried in each specific case requires compilation and clarification. The search engines are doing their best to ensure that each body is identified. Found personal items are of great help in this matter. It can be a mug or a spoon with initials, a Red Army book or party card, letters from home or, conversely, home. Paper media can rarely overcome the influence of time and maintain their integrity. Soldier medallions would cope with this task, and then the identification of the remains would go more efficiently. But it was impossible to provide each warrior with such an attribute. It was believed that duplication of data about a person on a medallion was not necessary.
Smolensk region is the true price of victory
On the Smolensk land, the fascist invaders ruled over more than two years (26 and a half months). During this long period, the Nazis destroyed Soviet citizens without regard to age and gender. One hundred and thirty-five thousand tortured and executed people - such is the result of their atrocities. Only in Smolensk, 87 graves with the bodies of the dead were found. Themit was decided to transfer the remains to the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War.
Smolensk region was the site of the formation of one hundred and twenty-sixth concentration camp. There is data on human losses in this factory of death: up to three hundred dead daily. The corpses were thrown into the grave and covered with earth. The memory of such atrocities is preserved for the sole purpose of preventing the recurrence of such events. The bodies of 45,000 soldiers rest on the site of this camp, and 15,000 on the site of a branch, the so-called small camp under the same number 126. Monuments and obelisks do not allow you to lose touch with the past war. Their rise above the surrounding landscape with a silent cry recalls the feat of the fallen soldiers.
Defending the approaches to the capital
Kaluga region is located on the last tens of kilometers to the center of our country - Moscow. During the seven hundred and sixteen days that the Nazis were on this territory, more than 240 thousand defenders of the Soviet land died. Since those memorable years, the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War of the Kaluga Region have been preserved at the battlefields. Their total number exceeds five hundred pieces. Soldiers and officers, privates and generals have found their last refuge on this land. Abundantly watered with the blood of its defenders, the Kaluga land preserves the memory of their valiant deed. Numerous obelisks, memorials and monuments remain a place of mass worship of descendants of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The memory of the heart does not leave indifferent the youngster and hard worker.
Everyone bows their head in gratitude. There is confusion in the lists of graves. Much of the data on the soldiers was mixed up or initially inaccurate. Therefore, the descendants have yet to restore the names of those who did not spare their lives for the freedom of the Kaluga land.
Kursk - returned names for the anniversary of the Victory
The city of Kursk is one of the battlefields that went down in history as a great turning point during World War II. In the settlement itself and in the surrounding territories, the remains of soldiers are still found. In the center of the city, a group burial of the executed Kuryans was discovered. Here are the bones of women and children, which speaks of the atrocities of the Nazis. The search work made it possible to find several soldier's medallions. The remains of all the dead were reburied. Larger mass graves of the Great Patriotic War in Kursk were formed from numerous small graves.
More than a thousand names have been restored by the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. Officially carved on granite slabs are one thousand one hundred names of dead heroes. The soldiers and officers who paid the road to victory with their lives received an examination and identification of their remains. Most of the work to revive the memory of the nameless heroes has been done.
Last shelter in a foreign land
Having restored the borders of the Soviet Union, the troops of the USSR continued on their way to the lair of fascism. This road was not easy to follow. The countries of Europe had to be liberated from the invaders for several more longmonths. People died in every country. They died from enemy bullets, died on the roadsides, drowned in rivers and swamps. The places where the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War are located in Poland are sites of fierce battles or mass executions of local residents.
Along with the already familiar finds, when graves with thousands of corpses are found, something out of the ordinary is encountered. In the city of Kostrzyn, a burial was found with the bodies of decapitated soldiers. As it turned out later, in the mid-fifties it was decided to reburial the remains of the soldiers in order to enlarge the mass graves. It was entrusted to the city public service to deal with such a difficult matter. Regulatory documents of that time say that the transfer of the remains was carried out "on the heads." Therefore, only the heads and sometimes the upper part of the body were transferred. All other parts of the skeleton remained in the same place. Such a blasphemous attitude cannot but cause discontent. Therefore, a decision was made to continue the exhumation and complete the transfer of all the remains of the dead defenders of the city.
Photos of Monuments
Each burial of soldiers and officers has an individual appearance. Giving uniqueness to the place of mass burial began during the war years. You can see photos of the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War on the websites of municipalities. It can be a traditional stele, baring the head of a soldier or a list of names on a granite slab. There are very unusualinstances. For example, a tombstone from a tank. Modern designers offer other options for imprinting the names of the dead in stone. The harder it is to destroy the monument, the longer the memory of the valor of the Soviet soldier will live.
Not all names have been restored yet, there are mass graves of the Great Patriotic War with unknown heroes. The families of such soldiers still consider their great-grandfathers missing. Finding them and finding out the place of their last resting place is the duty of every representative of a great nation.
