"This is a decision from above"

In the Levashov Memorial cemetery in St. Petersburg, a monument to the repressed Poles disappeared. This became known on Sunday, July 23.

The day before, Poland said that she was transferring troops to the border with Belarus in response to the announcement of joint teachings of the Belarusian army and mercenaries of the Wagner PMC near the borders of Poland.

In two days, several versions appeared, which happened to the monument. "Paper" tells how the events developed.

The disappearance of the monument to the repressed Poles was noticed by the historian and compiler of the database “Returned Names” by Anatoly Razumov, who spoke about the disappearance of journalist Galina Artemenko.

The historian sent the appeal to the governor Alexander Beglov and the chairman of the Legislative Assembly to Alexander Belsky to find out who dismantled the memorial and where he is. According to Razumov, the administration of the cemetery did not know what happened to the memorial.

What is located in the Levashov cemetery? ↓

The Levashov wasteland near St. Petersburg was a firing landfill of the NKVD, and about 45 thousand victims of the Stalinist repressions of different nationalities were buried on it. The memorial cemetery was recognized as such in 1989, and in 2015 acquired the status of an object of cultural heritage of regional significance.

TASS wrote with reference to a source in Smolny that the monument was taken to restoration, as it "became the object of attack of the vandals."

When the General Consul of Poland Gzhegozh, Slyubovski brought flowers to the Levashov cemetery, where the monument to the repressed Poles was located, in the administration of the cemetery he was informed that the Memorial "fell".

“The administration of the cemetery told us that the tree fell on the monument. But I do not believe in it, because this is not the first time when they remove something related to Poland. And even if the tree fell, then to clean the whole monument because of this ... There is nothing left there at all. The administration says that he was taken to “renovation”. But no one took pictures, and when it is brought back, no one knows, ”Fontanka quotes Slyubovski.

To the question of the “rotunda” about the fate of the monument, the director of the Levashovsky cemetery Valery Artemenko replied that the decision to dismantle the monument was made “from above”.

“At first, there was smeared with paint or some other garbage. I don’t know who did this - we, too, cannot run away ten hectares. And then the next day we had a dry tree - and right onto the cross. The dryer fell. We have a forest here. And it turned out such a nonsense. Well, this is not my decision [on the dismantling of the cross], this is already all on top, ”Artemenko said.

The deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Boris Vishnevsky said that he did not believe the official version of what happened, and wrote a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to initiate a criminal case of vandalism.

“Where is the photo? The damage is so serious that everyone was “cleaned up” to a flat site, taking away the multi -ton structure? And somehow it coincides with the next exacerbation of relations with Poland, ”Vishnevsky wrote.

The Committee for the Protection of Monuments of St. Petersburg “Paper” said that they were not dealing with issues related to memorials in the Levashovsky cemetery.