17:34, 7 October 2019

Dismantling memorial in Grozny highlights authorities' indifference to memory of deportation victims

Churtas moved from the memorial complex of victims of deportation in 2014. Photo by the Caucasian Knot correspondent

For the second time in five years, the memorial complex of victims of deportation has been moved to a new place in Grozny; however, this fact caused no resonance in the society.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2014, the memorial complex to the victims of Stalin's deportation was dismantled in Grozny from its initial place near Sheikh Ali Mitaev Street: the tombstones (churtas) were moved and installed in a new location on Akhmat Kadyrov Avenue. Then, the authorities' actions caused townspeople's indignation.

A source from the Grozny Mayoralty told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that all gravestones had been removed from the territory of the memorial mini-park in Kadyrov Avenue because of the reconstruction of the place and the erection of the Grozny Mall shopping centre.

According to the source, the churtas have been transported to Akhmat Kadyrov Mini-Park, situated next to the building of the Mayoralty. "From now on, the complex will be there," said the source.

This time, the removal of tombstones has caused no discontent among townspeople, Maret, an activist of a Chechen NGO, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "The authorities tried to dismantle this memorial back in 2008, but then the public rose up. [The rights defender] Natasha Estemirova raised the topic and the issue was closed. In 2014, the complex was dismantled, which also caused serious dissatisfaction, although there were no more open protests. Today, everything went unnoticed. Many of my acquaintances don't even know that these churtas have been removed again," she said.

The operation under the coded name of "Chechevitsa" (lentils), during which nearly 500,000 people were evicted from Chechnya and Ingushetia to Kazakhstan and Central Asia, was held from February 23 to March 9, 1944. Mass desertions, evading the conscription at wartime and a preparation of an armed uprising in the Soviet rear were announced as the grounds for the deportation.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 7, 2019 at 11:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondents