tablets with names of Poles stolen

Already in the third Russian region, a case of vandalism was recorded in relation to memorials in memory of victims of political repression. In Yakutsk, unknown people stole commemorative plaques with the names of Poles who were exiled to the region and became prominent explorers of Yakutia. The municipal authorities are still looking for the organization on whose balance sheet the monument was located.

In 2001, the Polish Memory Foundation erected in Yakutsk a memorial “In memory of Poles, victims of exile in the 13th-19th centuries and mass repressions of the 20th century, as well as outstanding explorers of the Yakut land.” The names of exiled foreigners who contributed to the development of Yakutia were inscribed on the memorial plates – Vatslav Seroshevsky, Eduard Pekarsky, Jan Chersky and Alexander Chekanovsky. But recently the tablets have disappeared from the memorial. Ruslan Vasiliev, chairman of the Yakut regional branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, drew attention to this. “The descendants of exiled Poles call me with anxiety and suspicion that these are all echoes of political events related to the Ukrainian conflict. And “somewhere up there” a decision was made to erase the historical memory of Polish relations: first, the inscriptions were removed, and after a while the stones would also be removed. I don’t believe and how can I calm the callers, ”he wrote on social networks.

Mr. Vasilyev said that he had applied to the regional department for the protection of historical and cultural monuments. But the officials replied that this monument is not an object of cultural heritage. The Yakutsk municipal service and the administration of the Central District also reported that they had no information about the fate of the tablets. “Everyone refuses to comment on the situation, no one is aware of what is happening. A very strange story, ”the local historian told Kommersant. He stressed that the monument to the exiles “has nothing to do with what is happening now.” “Eduard Pekarsky is the creator of the Yakut dictionary. Vatslav Seroshevsky wrote the book “Yakuts” in exile – in fact, the only source of information about those times. Yan Chersky and Alexander Chekanovsky are scientists,” Mr. Vasilyev said about some of those mentioned on the memorial. “They left a mark on the history of our republic and did a lot for us. Now in Europe they are breaking monuments to Soviet soldiers, we are indignant at this, and here we are starting to follow in their footsteps.”

Dmitry Zakharov, acting head of the Yakutsk municipal services, told Kommersant that the memorial was not on their balance sheet. “Accordingly, we did not carry out any repair work or dismantling of plaques with the names of scientists on the monument,” Dmitry Zakharov emphasized. Nikolai Nikolaev, deputy head of the Central District Council, said that the city department of property and land relations “is working to identify the balance holder.”

Recall that this is not the first scandal around memorials in memory of the victims of repression. In early spring, a memorial was demolished in the Perm Territory in memory of Lithuanians and Poles sent into exile for logging. The monument was erected by the descendants of the exiles in the cemetery of the abandoned special settlement of Galyashor seven years ago. It is still unknown who exactly destroyed it.

In the summer, commemorative plaques from the Last Address memorial project dedicated to the victims of repression began to disappear from the facades of buildings in Moscow. The activists of the project do not yet know exactly how many memorial signs have disappeared. Moscow City Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov called what was happening “a planned action by unknown extremist Stalinist organizations” and filed a request with the police.

Let us add that in May it became known about the disappearance of two monuments to the repressed Poles and Lithuanians on the territory of the memorial to the victims of political repressions in Pivovarikha (Irkutsk region). However, officials later said that the dismantling was “temporary”. The monuments were promised to be restored after the improvement of the city territory.

Nikolai Borisov, Yakutsk