Memorial complex Butovo training ground museum. Butovo training ground: a cure for communism

: both the Russian Church (Orthodox of various jurisdictional affiliations), and other denominations.

The overwhelming majority of those executed at the Butovo training ground were sentenced to death by extrajudicial bodies - the troika of the USSR NKVD for the Moscow region, as well as a special commission of the NKVD of the USSR and the USSR prosecutor.

Not far from the Butovo training ground there are two other former special facilities: the Kommunarka training ground (the former personal dacha of Heinrich Yagoda, later the site of mass executions), and the Sukhanovskaya special security prison (on the territory of the Catherine Monastery for Men).

Burials

From the results of documentary research carried out by the Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government to restore the rights of victims of political repression, the circumstances of the executions at the Butovo training ground for the period from August 8, 1937 to October 19, 1938 were clarified. In total, 20,765 people were shot during this period; more than 3 thousand people were identified by name. There is no documentary information about later burials. As of 2003, 19,595 people (93% of the total number of those executed) remained unrehabilitated, convicted under purely criminal or mixed articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, who, according to Russian laws, are not subject to rehabilitation.

The burials were carried out without notifying relatives and without a church or civil memorial service. Relatives of those executed began to receive certificates indicating the exact date and cause of death only in 1989.

On October 30, 2007, on the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repression, the Butovo training ground was visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II.

Story

At the end of the 19th century, on the site of the Butovo training ground, there was the Kosmodamianskoye-Drozhzhino estate (in honor of the unmercenary saints Cosmas and Damian). The village of Drozhzhino was first mentioned in 1568, when the estate of the zemstvo boyar Fyodor Mikhailovich Drozhzhin (who fell out of favor with Ivan the Terrible and executed by order of the Tsar) was located here. In 1889, the owner of the estate, N. M. Solovyov, founded a stud farm, and a hippodrome with spectator stands was built near the forest. The owner of the Butovo estate, I. I. Zimin, soon after the October Revolution, without waiting for confiscation, gave everything to the state and went abroad with his family. The stud farm supplied horses to the Red Army.

On May 15, 2004, the foundation stone of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia took place, built in the style of ancient Russian tented churches. The great consecration took place on May 19, 2007.

Circumstances of the executions. Statistical data

Death sentences to victims of repression were imposed without an adversarial trial, with the sanctions of extrajudicial criminal prosecution bodies - the NKVD troika for the Moscow region, a special commission of the NKVD of the USSR, the USSR prosecutor, as well as a special board of the Moscow Regional Court.

In Butovo, 374 church and clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) were shot and buried: from Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) to dozens of deacons, sextons and readers.

Famous people shot at the Butovo training ground

Ambartsumov, Vladimir Ambartsumovich (-) - clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church, inventor.
Auslander, Sergei Abramovich (-) - writer of the “Silver Age”.
Gelman, Hans (-) - German and Soviet physicist.
Delectorsky Nikita Petrovich (-) - Bishop of Nizhny Tagil, Orekhovo-Zuevsky (Russian Orthodox Church).
Dzhunkovsky, Vladimir Fedorovich (-) - former mayor of Moscow.
Drevin, Alexander Davydovich (-) - artist
Golovin, Fedor Aleksandrovich (-) - Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the 2nd convocation.
Klutsis, Gustav Gustavovich (-) - avant-garde artist.
Leiko, Maria Karlovna (-) - actress.
Olsufiev, Yuri Alexandrovich (-) - art critic and restorer.
Proferansov, Vladimir Aleksandrovich (-) - priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, archpriest, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.
Semashkevich, Roman Matveevich (-) - artist.
Seraphim (Chichagov) (-) - bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg.
Trubachev, Zosima Vasilievich (-) - archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church, canonized as a martyr in 2000
Tikhomirov, Ivan Petrovich (-) - clergyman.
Chenykaev, Nikolai Sergeevich (-) - former Kaluga governor (1915-1917).
Yagodin, Vasily Alexandrovich (-) - archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church, canonized as a martyr in 2000 for church-wide veneration.

Memorial complex on the territory of the landfill

Due to the fact that the wooden church, built on the territory of the training ground in 1995-1996 and consecrated on December 11, 1996, on the day of remembrance of Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov), did not accommodate all the parishioners who wanted, a large stone Orthodox church was erected and consecrated in 2007 Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo.

On the territory of the Butovo training ground there are stands with the names of 935 executed ministers and other members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

From the stands and other information-bearing structures (memorial stones, etc.) of the memorial complex of the Butovo training ground, visitors will not be able to find out some important information, such as the number of rehabilitated, the degree and nature of the guilt of a person or group of persons, nationality, gender, age composition of those executed.

The complex is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays. Excursions can be ordered additionally by prior agreement with the guide.

Butovo training ground. Main sign.jpg

Main information stand on the territory of the Butovo training ground (at the entrance)

Butovo training ground. Right side of the main sign. Butovo training ground.jpg

Fragment of the right side of the main information stand on the territory of the Butovo training ground (at the entrance)

Butovo training ground. The middle part of the main sign. Butovo training ground.jpg

Photographs of some of those executed, taken from their investigation files. Data on the number of people executed at the Butovo training ground by day in the period from August 1937 to October 1938. (Fragment of the middle part of the main information stand on the territory of the Butovo training ground (at the entrance))

Butovo training ground. Left side of the main sign. Scheme of the main burial sites of the historical monument "Butovo Polygon".jpg

Scheme of the main burials of the historical monument “Butovo training ground” (Fragment of the left part of the main information stand on the territory of the Butovo training ground (at the entrance))

Butovo training ground. Temple.jpg

Temple on the territory of the Butovo training ground

Directions to the test site

Directions to the Butovo training ground - from the Butovo railway station from the Kursk station, then on foot through the Varshavskoe highway, or by bus No. 18 from the metro station “Dmitry Donskoy Boulevard” to the final stop “Butovo training ground” (also makes a stop at the Butovo station in both directions).

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Notes

// patriarchia.ru (February 11, 2007)
// archive.martyr.ru
//memo.ru
// ekaterinamon.ru
//temples.ru
Series “Butovo training ground”. 1937-1938. Book of memory of victims of political repression. Vol. 1-7", M., 1997-2003. Publication of the Memorial Society
Valentina Oberemko.// Arguments and Facts . - 2011. - No. 30 for July 27. - P. 30.
L. A. Golovkova. // archive.martyr.ru (April 12, 2006)
Vladimir Kuzmin.“Rossiyskaya Gazeta” // rg.ru (federal issue No. 4506 dated 10/31/2007)
Alexander Latyshev, Bogdan Stepovoy. Newspaper "Izvestia" // izvestia.ru (November 2, 2007)
// alexanderyakovlev.org
Martyrology of those shot and buried at the NKVD training ground “Butovo Object”, 08.08.1937 - 19.10.1938 / Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo. Group for perpetuating the memory of victims of watering. repression. - M.: Publishing house "Zachatievsky Monastery", 1997. - 418 p., 1 sheet. tab.
// patriarchia.ru (May 19, 2007)
// sedmitza.ru (May 18, 2007)
//martyr.ru

Literature

Bakirov E. A., Shantsev V. P. Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: Book of Memory of Victims of Political Repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government to Restore the Rights of Rehabilitated Victims of Political Repression; Moscow Anti-Fascist Center. First issue. - Moscow: Institute of Experimental Sociology, 1997. - 364 p. - ISBN 5-87637-005-3. - ISBN 978-5-87637-005-1.
Bakirov E. A. Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: Book of Memory of Victims of Political Repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government to Restore the Rights of Rehabilitated Victims of Political Repression; Moscow Anti-Fascist Center. Second issue. - Moscow: Panorama, 1998. - 362 p. - ISBN 5-85895-052-3.
Bakirov E. A., Shantsev V. P. Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: book of memory of victims of political repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government for the restoration of the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repression. Issue 4. - Moscow: Alzo, 2000. - 362 p. - List of abbreviations: pp. 360-362. - ISBN 5-93547-003-9.
Bakirov E. A., Shantsev V. P. Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: book of memory of victims of political repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government for the restoration of the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repression. Issue 5. - Moscow: Publishing House "Panorama" LLC, 2001. - 360 p. : ill. - List of abbreviations: pp. 358-360. - ISBN 5-93547-004-7.
Bakirov E. A., Shantsev V. P. Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: book of memory of victims of political repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government for the restoration of the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repression. Issue 6. - Moscow: Publishing House "Panorama" LLC, 2002. - 320 p. - ISBN 5-93547-004-7.
Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: book of memory of victims of political repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government for the restoration of the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repression. Issue 7. - Moscow: Alzo, 2003. - 367 p. : ill. - Index of names for seven volumes of the book of memory “Butovo Test Site”: pp. 145-299. - ISBN 5-93547-006-3. - ISBN 978-5-93547-006-7.
Lyubimova K. F. Butovo training ground, 1937-1938: book of memory of victims of political repression / Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government for the restoration of the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repression. Issue 8. - Moscow: Alzo, 2003. - 395 p. - ISBN 5-93547-007-1. ISBN 978-5-93547-007-4.
Golovkova L. A.// Orthodox Encyclopedia. Volume VI. - M.: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia", 2003. - P. 393-396. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-010-2

An excerpt characterizing the Butovo training ground

“Well, now, daddy, I will decisively say - and mummy too, whatever you want - I will decisively say that you will let me into military service, because I can’t ... that’s all ...
The Countess raised her eyes to the sky in horror, clasped her hands and angrily turned to her husband.
- So I agreed! - she said.
But the count immediately recovered from his excitement.
“Well, well,” he said. - Here’s another warrior! Stop the nonsense: you need to study.
- This is not nonsense, daddy. Fedya Obolensky is younger than me and is also coming, and most importantly, I still can’t learn anything now that ... - Petya stopped, blushed until he sweated and said: - when the fatherland is in danger.
- Complete, complete, nonsense...
- But you yourself said that we would sacrifice everything.
“Petya, I’m telling you, shut up,” the count shouted, looking back at his wife, who, turning pale, looked with fixed eyes at her youngest son.
- And I’m telling you. So Pyotr Kirillovich will say...
“I’m telling you, it’s nonsense, the milk hasn’t dried yet, but he wants to go into military service!” Well, well, I’m telling you,” and the count, taking the papers with him, probably to read them again in the office before resting, left the room.
- Pyotr Kirillovich, well, let’s go have a smoke...
Pierre was confused and indecisive. Natasha's unusually bright and animated eyes, constantly looking at him more than affectionately, brought him into this state.
- No, I think I’ll go home...
- It’s like going home, but you wanted to spend the evening with us... And then you rarely came. And this one of mine...” the count said good-naturedly, pointing at Natasha, “she’s only cheerful when she’s with you...”
“Yes, I forgot... I definitely need to go home... Things to do...” Pierre said hastily.
“Well, goodbye,” said the count, completely leaving the room.
- Why are you leaving? Why are you upset? Why?..” Natasha asked Pierre, looking defiantly into his eyes.
“Because I love you! - he wanted to say, but he didn’t say it, he blushed until he cried and lowered his eyes.
- Because it’s better for me to visit you less often... Because... no, I just have business.
- From what? no, tell me,” Natasha began decisively and suddenly fell silent. They both looked at each other in fear and confusion. He tried to grin, but could not: his smile expressed suffering, and he silently kissed her hand and left.
Pierre decided not to visit the Rostovs with himself anymore.

Petya, after receiving a decisive refusal, went to his room and there, locking himself away from everyone, wept bitterly. They did everything as if they had not noticed anything, when he came to tea, silent and gloomy, with tear-stained eyes.
The next day the sovereign arrived. Several of the Rostov courtyards asked to go and see the Tsar. That morning Petya took a long time to get dressed, comb his hair and arrange his collars like the big ones. He frowned in front of the mirror, made gestures, shrugged his shoulders and, finally, without telling anyone, put on his cap and left the house from the back porch, trying not to be noticed. Petya decided to go straight to the place where the sovereign was and directly explain to some chamberlain (it seemed to Petya that the sovereign was always surrounded by chamberlains) that he, Count Rostov, despite his youth, wanted to serve the fatherland, that youth could not be an obstacle for devotion and that he is ready... Petya, while he was getting ready, prepared many wonderful words that he would say to the chamberlain.
Petya counted on the success of his presentation to the sovereign precisely because he was a child (Petya even thought how everyone would be surprised at his youth), and at the same time, in the design of his collars, in his hairstyle and in his sedate, slow gait, he wanted to present himself as an old man. But the further he went, the more he was amused by the people coming and going at the Kremlin, the more he forgot to observe the sedateness and slowness characteristic of adult people. Approaching the Kremlin, he already began to take care that he would not be pushed in, and resolutely, with a threatening look, put his elbows out to his sides. But at the Trinity Gate, despite all his determination, people who probably did not know for what patriotic purpose he was going to the Kremlin, pressed him so hard against the wall that he had to submit and stop until the gate with a buzzing sound under the arches the sound of carriages passing by. Near Petya stood a woman with a footman, two merchants and a retired soldier. After standing at the gate for some time, Petya, without waiting for all the carriages to pass, wanted to move on ahead of the others and began to decisively work with his elbows; but the woman standing opposite him, at whom he first pointed his elbows, angrily shouted at him:
- What, barchuk, you are pushing, you see - everyone is standing. Why climb then!
“So everyone will climb in,” said the footman and, also starting to work with his elbows, he squeezed Petya into the stinking corner of the gate.
Petya wiped the sweat that covered his face with his hands and straightened his sweat-soaked collars, which he had arranged so well at home, like the big ones.
Petya felt that he had an unpresentable appearance, and was afraid that if he presented himself like that to the chamberlains, he would not be allowed to see the sovereign. But there was no way to recover and move to another place due to the cramped conditions. One of the passing generals was an acquaintance of the Rostovs. Petya wanted to ask for his help, but thought that it would be contrary to courage. When all the carriages had passed, the crowd surged and carried Petya out to the square, which was completely occupied by people. Not only in the area, but on the slopes, on the roofs, there were people everywhere. As soon as Petya found himself in the square, he clearly heard the sounds of bells and joyful folk talk filling the entire Kremlin.
At one time the square was more spacious, but suddenly all their heads opened, everything rushed forward somewhere else. Petya was squeezed so that he could not breathe, and everyone shouted: “Hurray! Hurray! hurray! Petya stood on tiptoes, pushed, pinched, but could not see anything except the people around him.
There was one common expression of tenderness and delight on all faces. One merchant's wife, standing next to Petya, was sobbing, and tears flowed from her eyes.
- Father, angel, father! – she said, wiping away tears with her finger.
- Hooray! - they shouted from all sides. For a minute the crowd stood in one place; but then she rushed forward again.
Petya, not remembering himself, clenched his teeth and brutally rolled his eyes, rushed forward, working with his elbows and shouting “Hurray!”, as if he was ready to kill himself and everyone at that moment, but exactly the same brutal faces climbed from his sides with the same shouts of “Hurray!”
“So this is what a sovereign is! - thought Petya. “No, I can’t submit a petition to him myself, it’s too bold!” Despite this, he still desperately made his way forward, and from behind the backs of those in front he glimpsed an empty space with a passage covered with red cloth; but at that time the crowd wavered back (in front the police were pushing away those who were advancing too close to the procession; the sovereign was passing from the palace to the Assumption Cathedral), and Petya unexpectedly received such a blow to the side in the ribs and was so crushed that suddenly everything in his eyes became blurred and he lost consciousness. When he came to his senses, some kind of clergyman, with a bun of graying hair back, in a worn blue cassock, probably a sexton, held him under his arm with one hand, and with the other protected him from the pressing crowd.
- The youngster was run over! - said the sexton. - Well, that’s it!.. it’s easier... crushed, crushed!
The Emperor went to the Assumption Cathedral. The crowd smoothed out again, and the sexton led Petya, pale and not breathing, to the Tsar’s cannon. Several people took pity on Petya, and suddenly the whole crowd turned to him, and a stampede began around him. Those who stood closer served him, unbuttoned his frock coat, placed a gun on the dais and reproached someone - those who crushed him.
“You can crush him to death this way.” What is this! To do murder! “Look, cordial, he’s become white as a tablecloth,” said the voices.
Petya soon came to his senses, the color returned to his face, the pain went away, and for this temporary trouble he received a place on the cannon, from which he hoped to see the sovereign who was about to return. Petya no longer thought about submitting a petition. If only he could see him, he would consider himself happy!
During the service in the Assumption Cathedral - a combined prayer service on the occasion of the arrival of the sovereign and a prayer of thanks for the conclusion of peace with the Turks - the crowd spread out; Shouting sellers of kvass, gingerbread, and poppy seeds appeared, which Petya was especially keen on, and ordinary conversations could be heard. One merchant's wife showed her torn shawl and said how expensive it was bought; another said that nowadays all silk fabrics have become expensive. The sexton, Petya’s savior, was talking with the official about who and who was serving with the Reverend today. The sexton repeated the word soborne several times, which Petya did not understand. Two young tradesmen joked with the courtyard girls gnawing nuts. All these conversations, especially jokes with girls, which had a special attraction for Petya at his age, all these conversations did not interest Petya now; ou sat on his gun dais, still worried at the thought of the sovereign and his love for him. The coincidence of the feeling of pain and fear when he was squeezed with a feeling of delight further strengthened in him the awareness of the importance of this moment.
Suddenly, cannon shots were heard from the embankment (they were firing to commemorate peace with the Turks), and the crowd quickly rushed to the embankment to watch them shoot. Petya also wanted to run there, but the sexton, who had taken the little bark under his protection, did not let him in. The shots still continued when officers, generals, and chamberlains ran out of the Assumption Cathedral, then others came out not so hastily, the caps were taken off their heads again, and those who had run away to look at the cannons ran back. Finally, four more men in uniforms and ribbons emerged from the cathedral doors. "Hooray! Hooray! – the crowd shouted again.
- Which? Which? - Petya asked around him in a crying voice, but no one answered him; everyone was too carried away, and Petya, choosing one of these four faces, whom he could not clearly see because of the tears that had come into his eyes with joy, concentrated all his delight on him, although it was not the sovereign, shouted “Hurray! in a frantic voice and decided that tomorrow, no matter what it cost him, he would be a military man.
The crowd ran after the sovereign, accompanied him to the palace and began to disperse. It was already late, and Petya had not eaten anything, and sweat poured from him like hail; but he did not go home and, together with a diminished, but still quite large crowd, stood in front of the palace, during the sovereign’s dinner, looking out the palace windows, expecting something else and equally envying the dignitaries who were driving up to the porch - for the sovereign’s dinner, and the chamber lackeys who served at the table and flashed through the windows.
At the sovereign’s dinner, Valuev said, looking out the window:
“The people still hope to see your Majesty.”
Lunch was already over, the sovereign got up and, finishing his biscuit, went out onto the balcony. The people, with Petya in the middle, rushed to the balcony.
-Angel, father! Hurray, father!.. - the people and Petya shouted, and again the women and some weaker men, including Petya, began to cry with happiness. A rather large piece of the biscuit, which the sovereign was holding in his hand, broke off and fell onto the railing of the balcony, from the railing to the ground. The driver standing closest to him in his undershirt rushed to this piece of biscuit and grabbed it. Some of the crowd rushed to the coachman. Noticing this, the sovereign ordered a plate of biscuits to be served and began throwing biscuits from the balcony. Petya's eyes became bloodshot, the danger of being crushed excited him even more, he threw himself on the biscuits. He didn’t know why, but he had to take one biscuit from the king’s hands, and he had to not give in. He rushed and knocked down an old woman who was catching a biscuit. But the old woman did not consider herself defeated, although she was lying on the ground (the old woman was catching the biscuits and did not get them with her hands). Petya knocked her hand away with his knee, grabbed the biscuit and, as if afraid of being late, again shouted “Hurray!”, in a hoarse voice.
The Emperor left, and after that most of the people began to disperse.
“I said that we would have to wait a little longer, and so it happened,” people said joyfully from different sides.
No matter how happy Petya was, he was still sad to go home and know that all the pleasure of that day was over. From the Kremlin, Petya did not go home, but to his comrade Obolensky, who was fifteen years old and who also joined the regiment. Returning home, he resolutely and firmly announced that if they didn’t let him in, he would run away. And the next day, although he had not yet completely given up, Count Ilya Andreich went to find out how to settle Petya somewhere safer.

On the morning of the 15th, the third day after this, countless carriages stood at the Slobodsky Palace.
The halls were full. In the first there were noblemen in uniforms, in the second there were merchants with medals, beards and blue caftans. There was a hum and movement throughout the hall of the Noble Assembly. At one large table, under the portrait of the sovereign, the most important nobles sat on chairs with high backs; but most of the nobles walked around the hall.
All the nobles, the same ones whom Pierre saw every day, either in the club or in their houses, were all in uniforms, some in Catherine’s, some in Pavlov’s, some in the new Alexander, some in the general noble, and this general character of the uniform gave something strange and fantastic to these old and young, the most diverse and familiar faces. Particularly striking were the old people, low-sighted, toothless, bald, covered in yellow fat or wrinkled and thin. For the most part, they sat in their seats and were silent, and if they walked and talked, they joined someone younger. Just like on the faces of the crowd that Petya saw in the square, on all these faces there was a striking feature of the opposite: a general expectation of something solemn and ordinary, yesterday - the Boston party, Petrushka the cook, Zinaida Dmitrievna’s health, etc.
Pierre, who had been wearing an awkward nobleman's uniform that had become too tight for him since early morning, was in the halls. He was excited: the extraordinary gathering of not only the nobility, but also the merchants - the estates, etats generaux - evoked in him a whole series of thoughts that had long been abandoned, but were deeply etched in his soul about the Contrat social [Social Contract] and the French Revolution. The words he noticed in the appeal that the sovereign would arrive in the capital to confer with his people confirmed him in this view. And he, believing that in this sense something important was approaching, something that he had been waiting for a long time, walked around, looked closely, listened to the conversation, but nowhere did he find the expression of the thoughts that occupied him.
The sovereign's manifesto was read, which caused delight, and then everyone scattered, talking. In addition to the usual interests, Pierre heard talk about where the leaders should stand when the sovereign enters, when to give a ball to the sovereign, whether to divide into districts or the entire province... etc.; but as soon as it came to the war and what the nobility was assembled for, the talk was indecisive and uncertain. Everyone was more willing to listen than to talk.
One middle-aged man, courageous, handsome, in a retired naval uniform, spoke in one of the halls, and people crowded around him. Pierre walked up to the circle that had formed around the talker and began to listen. Count Ilya Andreich in his Catherine, voivode's caftan, walking with a pleasant smile among the crowd, familiar with everyone, also approached this group and began to listen with his kind smile, as he always listened, nodding his head approvingly in agreement with the speaker. The retired sailor spoke very boldly; this was evident from the expressions of the faces listening to him, and from the fact that those known to Pierre as the most submissive and quiet people moved away from him disapprovingly or contradicted him. Pierre pushed his way into the middle of the circle, listened and became convinced that the speaker was indeed a liberal, but in a completely different sense than Pierre thought. The sailor spoke in that especially sonorous, melodious, noble baritone, with a pleasant grazing and reduction of consonants, in that voice with which one shouts: “Pipe, pipe!”, and the like. He spoke with a habit of revelry and authority in his voice.
- Well, the Smolensk people offered the militia to the gosuai. Is it a decree for us from Smolensk? If the bouard nobility of the Moscow province finds it necessary, they can show their devotion to the Emperor by other means. Have we forgotten the militia in the seventh year! The revelers and thieves have just made a profit...
Count Ilya Andreich, smiling sweetly, nodded his head approvingly.
– So, did our militias really benefit the state? No! They just ruined our farms. It’s better to have another set... otherwise neither a soldier nor a man will return to you, and only one debauchery. The nobles do not spare their belly, we ourselves will all go, take another recruit, and all of us just call the goose call (that’s how the sovereign pronounced it), we will all die for him,” the speaker added with animation.
Ilya Andreich swallowed his drool with pleasure and pushed Pierre, but Pierre also wanted to talk. He stepped forward, feeling animated, not yet knowing why and not yet knowing what he would say. He had just opened his mouth to speak when one senator, completely without teeth, with an intelligent and angry face, standing close to the speaker, interrupted Pierre. With a visible habit of leading debates and holding questions, he spoke quietly, but audibly:
“I believe, my dear sir,” said the senator, muttering his toothless mouth, “that we are not called here to discuss what is more convenient for the state at the present moment - recruitment or militia.” We are called to respond to the appeal with which the Emperor has honored us. And we will leave it to the highest authorities to judge what is more convenient - recruitment or militia...
Pierre suddenly found an outcome to his animation. He became bitter against the senator, who introduced this correctness and narrowness of views into the upcoming occupations of the nobility. Pierre stepped forward and stopped him. He himself did not know what he would say, but he began animatedly, occasionally bursting into French words and expressing himself bookishly in Russian.
“Excuse me, Your Excellency,” he began (Pierre was well acquainted with this senator, but considered it necessary to address him here officially), “although I do not agree with Mr.... (Pierre paused. He wanted to say mon tres honorable preopinant), [my dear opponent,] - with Mr.... que je n"ai pas L"honneur de connaitre; [whom I do not have the honor to know] but I believe that the class of nobility, in addition to expressing its sympathy and admiration, is also called upon to discuss the measures by which we can help the fatherland. I believe,” he said, inspired, “that the sovereign himself would be dissatisfied if he found in us only the owners of the peasants whom we give to him, and ... the chair a canon [fodder for guns] that we make of ourselves, but I wouldn’t find any co…co… advice in us.
Many moved away from the circle, noticing the senator’s contemptuous smile and the fact that Pierre spoke freely; only Ilya Andreich was pleased with Pierre’s speech, just as he was pleased with the speech of the sailor, the senator, and in general always with the speech that he last heard.
“I believe that before discussing these issues,” Pierre continued, “we must ask the sovereign, most respectfully ask His Majesty to communicate to us, how many troops we have, what is the situation of our troops and armies, and then...”
But Pierre did not have time to finish these words when he was suddenly attacked from three sides. The one who attacked him the most was a Boston player who had known him for a long time and was always well disposed toward him, Stepan Stepanovich Apraksin. Stepan Stepanovich was in his uniform, and, whether because of the uniform or for other reasons, Pierre saw a completely different person in front of him. Stepan Stepanovich, with senile anger suddenly appearing on his face, shouted at Pierre:
- Firstly, I will report to you that we do not have the right to ask the sovereign about this, and secondly, if the Russian nobility had such a right, then the sovereign cannot answer us. Troops move in accordance with the movements of the enemy - troops depart and arrive...
Another voice came from a man of average height, about forty years old, whom Pierre had seen in the old days among the gypsies and knew to be a bad card player, and who, also changed in uniform, moved closer to Pierre and interrupted Apraksin.

The Butovo firing range was organized in 1935 as a shooting range for the NKVD with an area of 2 km. sq. Surrounded by a solid fence, it was an ideal place for execution. The cemeteries of Moscow did not accommodate such a number of dead, so they were buried like a layer cake - they were shot in a line near the ditch, the fallen were covered with earth, with a second batch on top. There are 13 ditches on the territory, each at least 300 meters long.

Paddy wagons (vans for transporting prisoners), which could accommodate about 30 people, approached the training ground from the Warsaw Highway at approximately one in the morning. The area was fenced with barbed wire, next to the place where people were unloaded, a guard tower was built right on the tree. People were brought into the barracks, supposedly for “sanitation.”

Most of those killed lived in Moscow or the Moscow region, but there are also representatives of other regions, countries and even continents who, of their own good, naive will, came to the Union to build communism. Here lie representatives of absolutely all estates and classes, from peasants and workers to people famous in the past. The former general governor of Moscow Dzhunkovsky, the chairman of the second Duma Golovin, several tsarist generals, as well as a significant number of representatives of the clergy, primarily the Orthodox - according to currently available information, more than a thousand people, including active laymen, suffered for the practice of the Orthodox faith. Of these, 330 were glorified as saints. “It is clear that the Grace of God cannot be measured in numbers, but, nevertheless, on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church there have not yet been places where the relics of a greater number of saints of God rest in relics,” says Archpriest Kirill Kaleda, rector of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

The host of Butovo new martyrs is headed by Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) of St. Petersburg. A man from an ancient aristocratic family that gave the fatherland several polar explorers and admirals. Combat officer, for courage shown in the Russian-Turkish war during the storming of Plevna, awarded a golden weapon with a dedicatory inscription from the Emperor. Subsequently, he became a spiritual child of St. right John of Kronstadt, with his blessing he was ordained and became a simple parish priest. The future Metropolitan Seraphim is also known for writing the Seraphim-Diveyevo Chronicle, thanks to which the Monk Seraphim of Sarov was glorified. In gratitude for writing the chronicle, Metropolitan Seraphim was honored with the appearance of St. Seraphim. In 1937, when he was shot, Metropolitan Seraphim was 82 years old. To take him to prison, they had to call an ambulance and use a stretcher - Metropolitan Seraphim could no longer walk on his own. This is the oldest in rank and age of those executed at the Butovo training ground. According to testimony, burials of those executed and died in Moscow prisons were carried out at the training ground until the early 50s.

Photographs of some of those executed, taken from their investigative files, and data on the number of those executed at the Butovo training ground by day (from August 1937 to October 1938). At the end of the 80s, several acts were issued to restore the memory of those killed during the years of repression, including a resolution of the Supreme Council. It stated that local councils of people's deputies and amateur performance bodies should help relatives of victims in the restoration, protection and maintenance of burial sites. On the basis of acts and the law on rehabilitation, in the early nineties, measures were taken in different regions to restore the memory of those repressed. The activities included archival research, searching for burial sites, and putting them in order. But the funding mechanism was not provided for in the acts, so in different regions the law was implemented (or not implemented) differently.

Thanks to Mindlin’s appeals, 11 folders with acts of execution of sentences were discovered in the KGB archive. The information is quite brief - last name, first name, patronymic, year and place of birth, date of execution. The place of execution was not indicated in the acts, but the sheets contained the signatures of the responsible executors. By order of the head of the KGB department for Moscow and the Moscow region, Yevgeny Savostyanov, an investigation was carried out in order to discover the burial sites. At that moment, several NKVD pensioners who worked in the late 30s were still alive. Including the commandant of the economic administration of the NKVD for Moscow and the Moscow region. The commandant confirmed that the main place of execution was the Butovo training ground, and the burials were also carried out there. Based on the signatures of the performers, he determined that they worked in Butovo. Thus, it was possible to bind the lists to the polygon. The burial area (about 5.6 hectares in the central part of the landfill) at that time belonged to the Federal Grid Company (FSB) and was under round-the-clock security. The site was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire and guarded; inside there were several strawberry beds and an apple orchard. Around the former training ground there is a holiday village of the NKVD. On the initiative of Mikhail Mindlin, with the help of the Moscow government, a stone monument was erected on the territory of the test site.

In the spring of 1994, the group passed on information about the existence of the test site to the Church. The information was reported through the granddaughter of Metropolitan Seraphim, Varvara Vasilievna. In Soviet times, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Varvara Chernaya (Chichagova) worked on space suits. It was she who created the material for the spacesuit in which Yuri Gagarin flew into space. Subsequently, Varvara Vasilievna took monastic vows with the name Seraphim, and became the first abbess of the newly opened Novodevichy Convent. Having read the report about Butovo, Patriarch Alexy II put on it his resolution on the construction of a temple-chapel there. On May 8, 94, a memorial cross was consecrated at the training ground and the first cathedral memorial service was performed for the murdered. Soon, the relatives of the victims in Butovo turned to Patriarch Alexy II with a request to bless them to create a community and begin construction of a temple. In 1995, the burial site was transferred to the Church.

Now there are two temples - wooden and stone. “In 1989, when we learned that my grandfather had been shot (previously it was believed that he died during the war in a camp), it never occurred to us that we would be able to build a temple on his grave and pray in it,” he says . Kirill Kaleda. “The fact that this place was transferred to the Church is undoubtedly the grace of God, which was given to us for the feat accomplished by the new martyrs.” Since 2000, patriarchal services have been held at the open-air site, attracting several thousand worshipers. This happens on the fourth Saturday after Easter, on the day of remembrance of the New Martyrs, who suffered in Butovo.

The descendants of KGB officers and workers of the Butovo training ground live in a holiday village next to the site of the execution. Summer residents call members of the Butovo church community invaders. Every year about 10 thousand people visit Butovo as part of pilgrimage groups. To this we can add a small number of single visitors. Overall, the figure is quite modest. “If we compare it with the million people who annually visit one French village burned by the Germans, we can draw a disappointing conclusion,” says Archpriest Kirill Kaleda. “We did not repent and did not realize the lesson of history that, by the grace of God, it taught us in the twentieth century. And this lesson was very clear.”

From the results of documentary research carried out by the Permanent Interdepartmental Commission of the Moscow Government for the restoration of the rights of victims of political repression, the circumstances of the executions at the Butovo training ground for the period from August 1937 to October 19, 1938 were clarified. In total, during the specified period, 20,765 executions were carried out, and 20 thousand people were identified by name. As of 2003, 5,595 people (27%) remained unrehabilitated. There were no results during the Second World War. The burials were carried out without notifying relatives and without a church or civil memorial service. Relatives of those executed began to receive certificates indicating the exact date and cause of death only in 1989.

In general, there were two main training grounds in Moscow - Kommunarka and Butovo. In Kommunarka, high-ranking officials, the aristocracy, and the party elite were shot (the famous 17th bloody party congress, almost all of whom were executed in 1937 (out of 56 congress members, only 2 survived) were killed there). The rest were brought to Butovo and finished off. The range's unique record - 582 executions - occurred on February 28, 1938.

How to get to the Butovo training ground

The test site can be reached from the Dmitry Donskoy Boulevard metro station. Bus number 18 goes directly to the training ground. This bus runs from 6-20, with intervals of exactly one hour. The last bus leaves from the metro at 20-20. Alternatively, you can get there from the metro by any minibus that goes along the Warsaw highway. You will need to go out at the turn to the training ground (the landmark is the overpass above Varshavka), cross the underground highway to the opposite side of the highway, and then walk along Berezovaya Alley for about 800 meters.

The burial grounds are open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There is a tour service at the temple. Groups of pilgrims are accepted daily, subject to prior arrangement. There are no cafes in the immediate vicinity of the memorial, however, by prior arrangement, it is possible to have lunch in the Sunday school refectory. There is also a memorial center “Butovo” at the temple, where you can get advice on finding repressed relatives.

Former special objects of the NKVD, which served as places of extrajudicial killings, torture, executions and burials during the period of mass repressions of the 30s of the last century, remain unhealing scars on the soil of the Moscow region.

The largest such place in Moscow and the Moscow region - the Butovo training ground or the Butovo special zone of the NKVD - is located on the land of the former ancient Drozhzhino estate, known since the 16th century. Its last owner was industrialist Ivan Ivanovich Zimin, brother of the famous Sergei Ivanovich Zimin, owner of the Moscow Private Opera. At the Zimin stud farm, which was worn in the 1920s. name Kamenev, the former manager of the estate, the nephew of its recent owner, Ivan Leontievich Zimin, worked as the manager. He lived here with his wife, the famous opera singer (later a professor at the Conservatory) S.I. Druzyakina. A wooden two-story house with carved cornices and platbands, a wide staircase and a small alley of blue spruce trees in front of it stood on the territory of the future special zone.

Around 1934, the land of the Drozhzhino estate came into the possession of the OGPU. The horse depot was closed and residents were evicted. In the mid-1930s. On the eve of mass executions, the Economic Directorate of the NKVD became preoccupied with finding places for burials. Three such objects were identified near Moscow: in the area of the village of Butovo, on the territory of the Kommunarka state farm and near the city of Lyubertsy. (This third zone was kept as a reserve; it was not used.) A shooting range was equipped on the territory of the Butovo estate on an area of about 6 hectares (the total area of the special zone was then more than 2 sq. km). Local residents were informed that training exercises would be carried out near their villages. After the notorious order of N.I. Ezhov No. 00447 of July 30, 1937, mass executions began here. In total, from August 8, 1937 to October 19, 1938, 20,761 people were killed at the training ground. The first execution under these orders was carried out here on August 8, 1937. On this day, 91 people were killed.

Since the executions were carried out according to a plan defined in the “limits,” the security officers used a certain technology for the executions and burial of the remains. The Butovo training ground, as one of the central facilities of the NKVD KHOZU, was well technically equipped. 13 ditches for the burial of those executed were dug in advance with an excavator. Their depth is 4-4.5 m, width 4.5-5 m. The total length of the ditches is more than 900 m.

Those sentenced to execution were brought from Moscow prisons at night, placed in a common barracks and checked against documents (it was strictly necessary to have a photograph). In the morning, the firing squad began its “work,” arriving from Moscow and stationed in a house specially designated for it. Prisoners were taken out in small groups and shot at close range on the edge of the ditch. The bodies were dumped in a ditch and possibly stacked (rubber gloves were found during excavations).

The most numerous executions in Butovo occurred in December 1937 and February 1938: 474 people were shot on December 8, 502 on February 17, and 562 on February 28. Among Butov’s victims, according to available documents, the largest number are Muscovites, residents of the Moscow region and neighboring regions, which were then wholly or partially included in the Moscow region. But there are also many representatives of the republics of the former USSR, persons of foreign origin and citizenship, whose only fault was their “inappropriate” nationality or place of birth. In terms of numbers, after Russians, Latvians, Poles, Germans, Jews, Ukrainians, and Belarusians predominate; there are representatives from France, USA, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Japan, India, China; In total there are over sixty nationalities. Most of the people buried in Butovo were simple peasants, often illiterate or completely illiterate. Sometimes they were shot by entire families - five to seven people each. The next largest victims of Butov are workers and employees of various Soviet institutions. More than a third of the total number of those executed were prisoners of Dmitlag, this real state within a state; the composition of the Dmilagovites or, as they were called, “kanalarmeytsy” - from world-famous scientists, builders, poets, clergy, teachers - to unrehabilitated and not subject to rehabilitation recidivist criminals.

In the Butovo ditches lie the remains of outstanding statesmen of pre-revolutionary Russia: Chairman of the 2nd State Duma F.A. Golovin, Moscow governor, later chief of gendarmes - V.F. Dzhunkovsky, his adjutant and friend - General V.S. Gadon, great-grandson of Kutuzov and at the same time a relative of Tukhachevsky, professor of church singing M. N. Khitrovo-Kramskaya, great-granddaughter of Saltykov-Shchedrin T. N. Gladyrevskaya; this is also one of the first Russian pilots N. N. Danilevsky and a Czech by nationality, a member of the expedition of O. Yu. Schmidt - Ya. V. Brezin, representatives of Russian noble families: the Rostopchins, Tuchkovs, Gagarins, Shakhovskys, Obolenskys, Bibikovs, Golitsyns; These are brilliant engineers, these are artists whose miraculously saved works now adorn the best museums and galleries in the world - Alexander Drevin, Roman Semashkevich, other artists: there are over eighty of them here - painters, graphic artists, decorators, designers. Among those shot were poor robbers - carters who delivered stone and gravel to the country's construction sites. Former policemen or, as they were also called, guards - about forty people. There are representatives of lower, middle and higher police ranks here, there is even a royal executioner. Numerous employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway and those simply born in Harbin or in the CER service area; together with relatives. A special group of those executed in Butovo were disabled people. In fact, disabled people unable to work (blind, deaf-mute, without arms or legs, or simply seriously ill) were shot as a way to “unload” the prisons, since they, convicted, as a rule, of begging or vagrancy, were refused to be accepted in the camps.

Among the “contingents subject to repression,” Yezhov’s Order No. 00447 specifically singled out “church members.” First of all, clergy, monastics and active laity of the Russian Orthodox Church; more than 940 of them were identified on the execution lists of the Butovo training ground.

In 1937, a new all-out attack on the Church and believers began. That year, 8 thousand churches were closed, 70 dioceses and vicariates were liquidated, and about 60 bishops were shot. Seven of them were shot at the Butovo training ground. This is sschmch. Seraphim (Chichagov) (glorified at the Council of Bishops in 1997), these are the smchch., canonized at the Anniversary Council of Bishops in 2000: Dimitri (Dobroserdov), Nikolai (Dobronravov), Nikita (Delectorsky), smchch.: Jonah (Lazarev), Arkady (Ostalsky). Butovo’s list of as yet uncanonized clergy is headed by the murdered Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky). Everyone involved in church matters was charged with a standard charge under Article 58 of the Criminal Code: anti-Soviet agitation, counter-revolutionary activity. But the reasons for the accusation could be very different, for example: “preserving the church and planting secret monasticism”, “failure to inform” (“knew about the fugitive priest and did not inform”), helping exiles, sheltering homeless clergy, storing an icon or prayer. Among the executed clergy there were many well-known and deeply revered priests: Archimandrite Kronid (Lyubimov), the last 79-year-old rector of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, died a martyr on December 10, 1937; ten people who were involved in the same case with him were also shot at the Butovo training ground. In December, January and February 1937-1938. 27 hieromonks of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra died in Butovo, having recently returned from prison; most of them were placed in the parishes of the Zagorsk region by Archimandrite Kronid. Day of death of Sschmch. Kronid and those who suffered with him became especially revered by the monks of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, who on this day visit Butovo and perform a memorial service at the place of execution at the large Worship Cross. Among the Orthodox, the names of the now glorified sschmchch were widely known and revered. Sergius (Makhaev) - priest of the Iveron community on Bolshaya Polyanka, Fr. Zosima (Trubachev), who cared for the priests and nuns exiled to Maloyaroslavets and who was arrested there, Fr. Vladimir (Medvedyuk). To date, 332 new martyrs have been glorified among the victims in Butovo.

In 1962, the Butovo training ground was surrounded by a high wooden fence. This territory was strictly guarded until 1995. However, already in 1990, acts on the execution of sentences in Moscow and the Moscow region were found and declassified. An internal investigation by state security agencies revealed that 20,761 people were shot in Butovo. Relatives of those executed began to come to this place of grief, and in 1993, with the assistance of the Moscow Government, the first memorial sign was installed here. In the difficult economic and political situation that developed in the country in the 90s, neither the state nor any other political force was ready to accept responsibility for turning the site of executions into a place of memory. Therefore, the further fate of this “special object” was connected with the initiative public group formed in 1993-1995. mainly from relatives of the victims. Already in 1994, a group of believers built a Worship Cross based on a sketch by D. M. Shakhovsky, and at the same time the first liturgy was celebrated in a camp tent church on the territory of the training ground. In 1995, the land of the Butovo training ground was transferred to the parish of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, which was under construction. The parish community was headed by the grandson of the martyr Vladimir Ambartsumov, who was executed at the Butovo training ground - Archpriest Kirill Kaleda, a former geologist, son of a famous scientist, secret priest (from 1972 to 1990) and church writer Archpriest. Gleb Kaleda. Through the works of Fr. Kirill and members of the church community began work to improve the territory of mass graves. According to the sketch of D. M. Shakhovsky, whose father was also shot in Butovo, the construction of a wooden church began, in which regular services began in 1996. In August 1997, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, archaeological excavations were carried out in a small area of the site. A section of the burial ditch with an area of 12.5 m2 was uncovered. The remains of 59 people were discovered on the open surface of the burial. In total, 13 ditches have now been identified, with a total length of almost 900 meters. On August 9, 2001, by decree of the Government of the Moscow Region, the Butovo Test Site was declared a historical and cultural monument of local significance. Together with the protective zones, the total area of the historical monument was about 3 square meters. kilometers. In 2005-2006, the territory was improved and embankments were made over the burial ditches. The Butovo training ground is intended to become a historical and landscape memorial complex, an open-air museum; a “Garden of Memory” will be created on its territory, where the names of all victims will be immortalized. Thus, the Butovo site turned into a unique church and public memorial of national significance.

On May 7, 2000, the fourth Saturday after Easter, the first open-air service was held at the Butovo training ground, led by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'. Since then, this annual patriarchal liturgy on the day of the Council of the Butovo New Martyrs has become an important event in the spiritual life of the entire Russian Church.

After the patriarchal service on May 15, 2004, Patriarch Alexy and the head of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, laid the foundation stone for a new stone church. The first draft design of the church belongs to A. S. Tutunov. The architectural design of the temple was developed by M. Yu. Koestler, under the auspices of the ARCHRAM company, the grandfather of whose leader A. N. Obolensky was also shot in Butovo.

The upper church was consecrated on May 19, 2007, three days after the signing of the act of reunification of the Russian Church Abroad. It is dedicated to the glorification of the feat of the new martyrs, the “Church Triumphant”. If the lower temple symbolizes Holy Week, then the upper temple symbolizes Easter. Patriarch Alexy gave his blessing to consecrate the central chapel of the upper church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. The right chapel is consecrated in the name of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, the left - in the name of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', as the head of the Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

In 2007, on the seventieth anniversary of the Yezhovshchina, a unique religious procession was held from Solovki to Butovo. The religious procession brought to Butovo the Great Cross of Worship, made in the Solovetsky Cross-carving workshop of G. Kozhokar, one of the largest wooden carved crosses in the world. In the same year, Russian President V.V. Putin visited the Butovo training ground on the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression on October 30.

In 2002, on the initiative of the parishioners of the temple and relatives of the victims, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, the Butovo Memorial Scientific and Educational Center was created in order to coordinate the efforts of state, religious and public organizations to create a memorial complex. Its main statutory goal is “to restore historical justice through the maximum possible preservation for future generations of spiritual, scientific and aesthetic values created by people who died during the years of mass repression.” Through the joint efforts of the Center and the Parish, the Museum of Memory of the Victims is being created, for which the parish restored the building of the former commandant's office of the Butovo special zone of the NKVD.

Currently, also together with the Parish, the Memorial Center is working to create a Database on victims at the Butovo training ground in 1937 - 1938. It is based on the NKVD execution lists, covering the names of 20,761 people, published in the Butovo Test Site Memory Books. Gradually, scattered documents and evidence are united around this list, the analysis of which can only be carried out when creating a database.

It can be stated that the historical monument Butovo site is developing as a unique church and public memorial of national importance and known throughout the world.

Garkavyi I. V., Golovkova L. A.

I visited the Butovo training ground for the first time in my life. To be honest, I didn’t understand what could be interesting about walking between the graves. Now - after a walk around the training ground - I think differently. It seems to me that every Russian person should visit Butovo so that, in the apt expression of the rector of the Butovo church, “not step on the same rake again.”

Misha Shamonin was shot at the Butovo firing range at the age of 13

From 13 to 82

Most of those killed lived in Moscow or the Moscow region, but there are also representatives of other regions, countries and even continents who, of their own good, naive will, came to the Union to build communism. Like, for example, a certain John from South Africa. Here lie representatives of absolutely all estates and classes, from peasants and workers to people famous in the past. The former general governor of Moscow Dzhunkovsky, the chairman of the second Duma Golovin, several tsarist generals, as well as a significant number of representatives of the clergy, primarily the Orthodox - according to currently available information, more than a thousand people, including active laymen, suffered for the practice of the Orthodox faith. Of these, 330 were glorified as saints. “It is clear that the Grace of God cannot be measured in numbers, but, nevertheless, on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church there have not yet been found places where a greater number of saints of God would rest in the relics,” says the rector of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia Archpriest Kirill Kaleda.

Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov)

At the site of the execution there are strawberry beds

At the end of the 80s, several acts were issued to restore the memory of those killed during the years of repression, including a resolution of the Supreme Council. It stated that local councils of people's deputies and amateur performance bodies should help relatives of victims in the restoration, protection and maintenance of burial sites. On the basis of acts and the law on rehabilitation, in the early nineties, measures were taken in different regions to restore the memory of those repressed. The activities included archival research, searching for burial sites, and putting them in order. But the funding mechanism was not provided for in the acts, so in different regions the law was implemented (or not implemented) differently.

In 1992, a public group was created in Moscow to perpetuate the memory of victims of political repression under the leadership of Mikhail Mindlin. He spent a total of more than 15 years in prisons and camps, and only thanks to his remarkable health and strong character he remained alive. At the end of his life (he was already over 80), he decided to perpetuate the memory of the victims of terror.

Photographs of some of those executed, taken from their investigative files, and data on the number of those executed at the Butovo training ground by day (from August 1937 to October 1938).

Scheme of the main burials

Humble Reverence

Having read the report about Butovo, Patriarch Alexy II put on it his resolution on the construction of a temple-chapel there. On May 8, 94, a memorial cross was consecrated at the training ground and the first cathedral memorial service was performed for the murdered. Soon, the relatives of the victims in Butovo turned to Patriarch Alexy II with a request to bless them to create a community and begin construction of a temple. In 1995, the burial site was transferred to the Church.

Every year about 10 thousand people visit Butovo as part of pilgrimage groups. To this we can add a small number of single visitors. Overall, the figure is quite modest. “If we compare it with the million people who annually visit one French village burned by the Germans, we can draw a disappointing conclusion,” says Archpriest Kirill Kaleda. “We did not repent and did not realize the lesson of history that, by the grace of God, it taught us in the twentieth century. And this lesson was very clear.”

A worship cross brought by water from Solovki and installed in 2007 at the Butovo site near the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

Repentance is a comparative analysis

“Probably the biggest tragedy that happened to Russia in the 20th century was not even a great terror. This is the destruction of the peasantry during collectivization, says Fr. Kirill. - Tambov uprising, during the suppression of which people were poisoned with chemical weapons, famines, mass evictions to the North, where the living conditions of peasants were worse than the living conditions of prisoners in camps. If in the camps located there, the prisoners were given at least a bundle of firewood and even gruel, but still hot, then they were given nothing. They were thrown away just like that - live as you want. But we somehow don’t think at all about the fact that these peasants, who were subjected to inhumane destruction, received the land, to put it mildly, in a not entirely honest way. The land on which they worked in the late twenties, 15 years earlier belonged to completely different people who were killed, torn to pieces, or fled the country. We can discuss whether the distribution of land in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century was fair. That's another question. But the fact that the peasants received land through robbery and murder is a historical fact. And after 15-20 years, it was their turn to fall victim. We are talking now not in political terms, but in moral and spiritual terms. I think the overwhelming number of people today consider the distribution of property that is happening in Russia to be unfair. And we just don’t want to think about what lies ahead. This is what repentance is all about - realizing what we do and comparing it with the lessons that have been given to us.”

That is, the suffering to which the peasantry was subjected was related to the illegal acquisition of land?
- I did not say that.
- But they can be connected?
- Can be. And the new martyrs realized this. It is recorded in archival investigative files that when asked “your attitude towards the Soviet government,” many answered: “The Soviet government was sent to our people for their sins.”
- And today we risk getting something similar?
- We pray that our fatherland lives peacefully and in prosperity. But I am surprised by the spiritual blindness of the people. It's very disappointing to step on the same rake twice.

How to get to the Butovo training ground

I visited the Butovo training ground for the first time in my life. To be honest, I didn’t understand what could be interesting about walking between the graves. Now - after a walk around the training ground - I think differently. It seems to me that each of us should visit Butovo so that, in the apt expression of the rector of the Butovo church, “not step on the same rake again.”

From 13 to 82

The youngest, Misha, was 13 years old. A street kid who stole 2 loaves of bread. He could only be shot if he was 15, so his date of birth was corrected. And they shot him. People were shot for something less, for example, for having a Stalin tattoo on their leg. Sometimes people were killed by entire families of 5-9 people.
Paddy wagons (vans for transporting prisoners), which could accommodate about 30 people, approached the training ground from the Warsaw Highway at approximately one in the morning. The area was fenced with barbed wire, next to the place where people were unloaded, a guard tower was built right on the tree. People were brought into the barracks, supposedly for “sanitation.”

Immediately before the execution, their face was compared with the photograph in the file and the verdict was announced. The procedure continued until dawn. At this time, the performers were drinking vodka in a stone house nearby. The condemned were brought out to them one by one. Each performer accepted his victim and led him into the depths of the training ground, in the direction of the ditch. Ditches three meters deep and 100 or more meters long were specially dug by bulldozers during the intensification of repression, so as not to waste time digging individual graves. People were placed on the edge of the ditch and shot, mainly from service weapons, aiming at the back of the head. The dead fell into the ditch, covering the bottom of the trench. In the evening, a bulldozer covered the bodies with a thin layer of soil, and the performers, usually completely drunk, were taken to Moscow. The next day everything was repeated. Less than 300 people were rarely shot in a day. Unfortunately, the names of all those shot and buried at the training ground are still unknown. Accurate information is available only for a short period from August 1937 to October 1938. During this period, 20 thousand 761 people were shot.
In an excavation area of only 12 square meters, experts discovered the remains of 149 people.
Most of those killed lived in Moscow or the Moscow region, but there are also representatives of other regions, countries and even continents who, of their own good, naive will, came to the Union to build communism. Like, for example, a certain John from South Africa. Here lie representatives of absolutely all estates and classes, from peasants and workers to people famous in the past. The former Governor-General of Moscow Dzhunkovsky, the Chairman of the Second Duma Golovin, several tsarist generals, as well as a significant number of representatives of the clergy, primarily the Orthodox - according to currently available information, more than a thousand people, including active laymen, who suffered for the practice of the Orthodox faith. Of these, 330 were glorified as saints. “It is clear that the Grace of God cannot be measured in numbers, but, nevertheless, on the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church there have not yet been places where the relics of a greater number of saints of God rest in relics,” says Archpriest Kirill Kaleda, rector of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russians.
The host of Butovo new martyrs is headed by Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) of St. Petersburg. A man from an ancient aristocratic family that gave the fatherland several polar explorers and admirals. Combat officer, for courage shown in the Russian-Turkish war during the storming of Plevna, awarded a golden weapon with a dedicatory inscription from the Emperor. Subsequently, he became a spiritual child of St. right John of Kronstadt, with his blessing he was ordained and became a simple parish priest. The future Metropolitan Seraphim is also known for writing the Seraphim-Diveyevo Chronicle, thanks to which the Monk Seraphim of Sarov was glorified. In gratitude for writing the chronicle, Metropolitan Seraphim was honored with the appearance of St. Seraphim. In 1937, when he was shot, Metropolitan Seraphim was 82 years old. To take him to prison, they had to call an ambulance and use a stretcher - Metropolitan Seraphim could no longer walk on his own. This is the oldest in rank and age of those executed at the Butovo training ground. According to testimony, burials of those executed and died in Moscow prisons were carried out at the training ground until the early 50s.

At the site of the execution there are strawberry beds

At the end of the 1980s, several acts were issued to restore the memory of those killed during the years of repression, including a resolution of the Supreme Council. It stated that local councils of people's deputies and amateur performance bodies should help relatives of victims in the restoration, protection and maintenance of burial sites. On the basis of acts and the law on rehabilitation, in the early nineties, measures were taken in different regions to restore the memory of those repressed. The activities included archival research, searching for burial sites and putting them in order. But the funding mechanism was not provided for in the acts, so in different regions the law was implemented (or not implemented) differently.
In 1992, a public group was created in Moscow to perpetuate the memory of victims of political repression under the leadership of Mikhail Mindlin. He spent a total of more than 15 years in prisons and camps, and only thanks to his remarkable health and strong character he remained alive. At the end of his life (he was already over 80), he decided to perpetuate the memory of the victims of terror.
Thanks to Mindlin’s appeals, 11 folders with acts of execution of sentences were discovered in the KGB archive. The information is quite brief - last name, first name, patronymic, year and place of birth, date of execution. The place of execution was not indicated in the acts, but the sheets contained the signatures of the responsible executors. By order of the head of the KGB department for Moscow and the Moscow region, Yevgeny Savostyanov, an investigation was carried out in order to discover the burial sites. At that moment, several NKVD pensioners who worked in the late 1930s were still alive. Including the commandant of the economic administration of the NKVD for Moscow and the Moscow region. The commandant confirmed that the main place of execution was the Butovo training ground, and the burials were also carried out there. Based on the signatures of the performers, he determined that they worked in Butovo. Thus, it was possible to bind the lists to the polygon. The burial area (about 5.6 hectares in the central part of the landfill) at that time belonged to the Federal Grid Company (FSB) and was under round-the-clock security. The site was surrounded by a fence with barbed wire and guarded; inside there were several strawberry beds and an apple orchard. Around the former training ground there is a holiday village of the NKVD. On the initiative of Mikhail Mindlin, with the help of the Moscow government, a stone monument was erected on the territory of the test site.

Humble Reverence

Having read the report about Butovo, Patriarch Alexy II put on it his resolution on the construction of a temple-chapel there. On May 8, 1994, a memorial cross was consecrated at the training ground and the first cathedral memorial service was performed for those killed. Soon, the relatives of the victims in Butovo turned to Patriarch Alexy II with a request to bless them to create a community and begin construction of a temple. In 1995, the burial site was transferred to the Church.
Now there are two temples - wooden and stone. “In 1989, when we learned that my grandfather had been shot (previously it was believed that he died during the war in a camp), it never occurred to us that we would be able to build a temple on his grave and pray in it,” he says. . Kirill Kaleda. “The fact that this place was handed over to the Church is undoubtedly the grace of God, which was given to us for the feat accomplished by the new martyrs.” Since 2000, patriarchal services have been held at the open-air site, attracting several thousand worshipers. This happens on the fourth Saturday after Easter, on the day of remembrance of the New Martyrs, who suffered in Butovo.

The stone temple is also part of the memorial complex. The interior space includes a reliquary in which the personal belongings of the killed are kept: clothes, prayer books, letters. And in the basement of the temple there is a museum: pre-mortem photographs of the victims in Butovo and things found in the burial ditch. Shoes, individual items of clothing, rubber gloves, shell casings and bullets - all of this, naturally, is in dilapidated condition. But the photographs speak volumes. It's hard to see real lives behind the cold numbers. But when you look into the eyes of these still living people, at that moment the story turns from abstract to personal. More than 20 thousand such personal stories rest at the site.
Every year about 10 thousand people visit Butovo as part of pilgrimage groups. To this we can add a small number of single visitors. Overall, the figure is quite modest. “If we compare it with the million people who annually visit one French village burned by the Germans, we can draw a disappointing conclusion,” says Archpriest Kirill Kaleda. “We did not repent and did not realize the lesson of history that, by the grace of God, it taught us in the twentieth century. And this lesson was very clear.”

Memorial complex Butovo training ground museum. Butovo training ground: a cure for communism

Burials

Story

Circumstances of the executions. Statistical data

Famous people shot at the Butovo training ground

Memorial complex on the territory of the landfill

Directions to the test site

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