Solovki stone - a place of political protest

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Russians have gone through many upheavals. Among them, total repressions for political and religious reasons on the territory of the Soviet Union in the twentieth century remain terrible and incomprehensible to many people.

Lubyanka is a mournful place where innocent people were tortured and sentenced to death. The repressed were sent in full trains to camps and prisons on the Solovetsky Islands. These lands have become the last refuge for a huge number of Soviet people. And it is the Solovetsky stone that is rightfully considered a memorial that does not let millions of ruined lives be forgotten.

In memory of those tortured and executed

For a long time it was not customary to discuss and mention these shameful times for Russia. But pain and uncertainty make many think and remember those terrible years. The main supporters in perpetuating the grave events taking place on the Solovetsky Islands in camps (SLON) and prisons (STON) for special purposes were members of the public organization "Memorial". This society was created by an academician andhuman rights activist Sakharov Andrey Dmitrievich.

Public activists and relatives of the repressed appealed to the authorities of the capital with a request to allocate a site in Moscow for the installation of a memorial that commemorates the victims of political repression. This memorable place was Lubyanka Square, where the Solovetsky stone was located.

History of the monument

It was possible to stir up the public and talk about perpetuating the memory of people who became victims of political repressions in the years of perestroika. And it happened in 1990. After agreeing with the government of Moscow and allocating funds to them, the foundation was laid for the installation of the monument, which later became the Solovetsky Stone.

The granite block was chosen by Mikhail Butorin, a historian and journalist, and Gennady Lyashenko, the chief architect of Arkhangelsk, before being sent, it was in the village of Solovetsky, in Tamarin pier.

The boulder was transported by the Sosnovets cargo ship to Arkhangelsk, from where it was delivered to Moscow by rail. Designer V. E. Korsi and artist-architect S. I. Smirnov also took part in the creation of the memorial monument.

The Solovetsky stone was installed on the Lubyanka in 1990, October 30th. The chosen place is very significant for many Russians. After all, it was here that the “terrible” buildings were located, first the NKVD, then the KGB. Here, the hands of ruthless officials signed documents for mass arrests of people and sentences to execution or exile of those accused of treason and undermining the communist system.

Since 2008, the Solovetsky Stone has been a landmark of Moscow. It is located in the Moscow square near the Polytechnic Museum. Earlier, a monument to the “iron” Felix Dzerzhinsky stood opposite him. But it was dismantled during the putsch events in August 1991.

Memorable day

The monument was opened with thousands of Muscovites and guests of the capital. Among them were former political prisoners of the Solovetsky camps: Oleg Volkov, Sergei Kovalev and Anatoly Zhigulin.

Back in 1974 (October 30), the first Political Prisoner's Day was celebrated by lighting many candles in memory of thousands of innocent victims, a joint hunger strike was declared. The initiators were Kronid Lyubarsky and many prisoners of the camps in Perm and Mordovia.

Since 1990, October 30 is considered the official Day of Political Prisoners in the USSR. Later it was renamed and began to be celebrated as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions.

Prisoners of the Gulag

The northern capital, St. Petersburg, also received a gift from former political prisoners in memory of the victims of repression. On September 4, 2002, the Solovetsky stone was erected by the activists of the "Memorial" society in the square near Troitskaya Square. The opening of the monument was timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The authors of the memorial are the artists E. I. Ukhnalev and Yu. A. Rybakov.