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Memory about priests who were shot in Orsha (video)

2013 2013-05-02T15:48:55+0300 1970-01-01T03:00:00+0300 en https://spring96.org./files/images/sources/kopcik-jura.jpg The Human Rights Center “Viasna” The Human Rights Center “Viasna”
The Human Rights Center “Viasna”
Yury Koptsik

Yury Koptsik

In the 1920-1930ies the shootings of priests were conducted within the borders of the then Orsha (near Mahilyou highway, where suburb-3 is located). This place hasn't been marked in any way yet and there is no memorial sign there. According to local core researcher Yury Koptsik, local dwellers use it as a recreation place, being unaware they drink alcohol on the graves.

Here's the testimony of a dweller of the village of Paddubtsy, Syarhey Kandratsenka: "At 2 p.m. we met an NKVD car with two lanterns on the cabin not far from the city. The car was turned left to the forest not far from us. We remembered the place. A week after it we were returning from the city. I told my companion that we could go and see what was there where the car had driven – there was a good descent from the highway. We saw a small girl sitting by a fresh grave, and an elderly woman near her. There was a 100-gram bottle of vodka on the grave, some memorial porridge in a bowl. We greeted them. The elderly woman said:

"Sit down, commemorate the dead man".
"Who is buried here?" we asked.

"My son, children, he was a priest and he was shot dead here. And this is my granddaughter," she said pointing at the girl.

I looked around and saw that this wasn't the only grave. The earth was dug all around. Some of the grave weren't covered well enough, the earth on them caved in.

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