Levashovsky necropolis

Levashovskaya Pustosh is one of the largest cemeteries in St. Petersburg. In this place, men and women who died and were killed in Leningrad prisons in 1937–1954 are buried. According to the FSB, 19,450 people are buried in the wasteland. Their names are unknown and there are no lists.

Until 1989, the cemetery remained a secret facility of the USSR KGB. In the same year, spontaneous development of the territory began: relatives and friends of those killed during the Great Terror placed memorial signs and symbolic tombstones in the cemetery. Many of the portraits were nailed directly to the trees, now because of this they are filled with resin, and other photographs have faded in the sun over the years.

Based on the signatures preserved under some photographs, St. Petersburg photographer Svetlana Bulatova found those buried in the “ Open List ” - the largest database of victims of political repression in the USSR. “Paper” publishes Svetlana’s photo project about those buried on the Levashovskaya Heath and their history.