The Kommunarka firing range (russian: Расстрельный полигон «Коммунарка»), former dacha of secret police chief

Genrikh Yagoda Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda ( rus, Ге́нрих Григо́рьевич Яго́да, Genrikh Grigor'yevich Yagoda, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director ...

, was used as a burial ground from 1937 to 1941. Executions may have been carried out there by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

during the

Great Terror The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

and until the war started; alternatively, bodies of those shot elsewhere might have been brought there for later interment."The Kommunarka burial site in Moscow", Russia's Necropolis of Terror and the Gulag
''en.mapofmemory.org'' As the late

Arseny Roginsky Arseny Borisovich Roginsky (russian: Арсе́ний Бори́сович Роги́нский; 30 March 1946 – 18 December 2017)Luxmoore, Matthew (23 December 2017).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved 25 December 2 ...

explained: "firing range" was a popular euphemism adopted to describe mysterious and closely-guarded plots of land that the NKVD began to set aside for mass burials on the eve of the

.Arseny Roginsky, "Epilogue", ''Those shot at Kommunarka'', Memorial: Moscow, 2000
(in Russian).

Identifying the victims

Talking to ''Izvestiya'' in 2007 a representative of the

Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...

suggested that approximately 10,000 people had been killed and buried in

mass graves A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

at Kommunarka. Painstaking work by

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

researchers and others in the 1990s established the identity of 4,527 known to be buried there. Their names were published in Memorial's first Book of Remembrance. Before Kommunarka opened as a memorial complex in 2018 an archaeological survey indicated that 6,600 bodies probably lay there, the total number of names since reached through further documentary research. As with so many other "firing ranges" throughout the former Soviet Union, the FSB (successor to the KGB and the

) retained control of the territory for many decades thereafter. Only in 1999, was the land transferred, as with the

Butovo firing range The Butovo Firing Range or Butovo Shooting Range (russian: Бутовский полигон) was an execution site of the Soviet secret police located near Drozhzhino in Leninsky District, Moscow Oblast from 1938 to 1953. Its use for mass exe ...

south of Moscow, to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. Only on 14 November 1999 did a plaque commemorating the Victims of Political Repression at the "special installation" finally appear, later than at any other mass burial site in Moscow, comments

. A church dedicated to Russia's New Martyrs and Confessors, i.e. those who had died for their Christian faith during the Soviet period, was built at Kommunarka and their feast day was thereafter celebrated each year on or around 25 January.

Opening and controversy

On 27 October 2018 when the memorial site opened all 6,609 names of those known to be buried there were included on the Wall of Remembrance. A controversy then arose over the inclusion on the lists of some 50 high-ranking secret police officers (including Yagoda himself) none of whom had been rehabilitated. The decision to use a single list was explained by

Memorial (society) Memorial ( rus, Мемориал, p=mʲɪmərʲɪˈaɫ) is an international human rights organisation, founded in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union to study and examine the Human rights in the Soviet Union, human rights violations and o ...

chairman Jan Raczynski, one of those who had taken part in discussions of the form the memorial complex should take: other partners in the project were the Gulag Museum, representatives of the buried victims, the Moscow city commission for the Victims of Political Repression and the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. The committee concluded, said Racynski, that everyone deserved a grave to which relatives and descendants might come. This included all those who had been buried at Kommunarka but in no sense did it exonerate them of any earlier crimes.

Notable victims

Yakov Agranov Yakov Saulovich Agranov (russian: Я́ков Сау́лович Агра́нов; born Yankel Samuilovich Sorenson; 12 October 1893–1 August 1938) was the first chief of the Soviet Main Directorate of State Security and a deputy of NKVD c ...

Tobias Akselrod Tobias Akselrod (15 October 1887 in Moscow – 10 March 1938 in Kommunarka shooting ground, Moscow Oblast) was a Russian revolutionary and 1919 member of the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Life Akselrod joined the Jewish Labour Bund in 1905. By 1 ...

Yakov Alksnis Yakov Ivanovich Alksnis (russian: Яков Иванович Алкснис, lv, Jēkabs Alksnis; – 28 July 1938) was a Soviet military leader and the commander of the Red Army Air Forces from 1931 to 1937. Biography Jēkabs Alksnis was b ...

Anandyn Amar Anandyn Amar ( mn, Анандын Амар; 1886 – July 10, 1941) was the head of state of the Mongolian People’s Republic from 1932 to 1936 and twice served as prime minister from 1928–1930 and again from 1936–1939. A widely respected p ...

Vasily Anisimoff Vasily Onisimovich Afanasiev (alias Vasily Anisimovich Anisimoff) was a revolutionary and a propagandist of Marxism as well as a prominent activist and supporter of the Russian and international Socialist movement. He was among the active members o ...

Nikolay Antipov Nikolai Kirillovich Antipov (russian: Николай Кириллович Анти́пов, 15 December 1894 – 29 July 1938) was a Soviet politician. He was appointed Member of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union and elected memb ...

Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko Vladimir Alexandrovich Antonov-Ovseenko (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Анто́нов-Овсе́енко; ua, Володимир Антонов-Овсєєнко; 9 March 1883 – 10 February 1938), real surna ...

* Juris Aploks *

Ernest Appoga Ernest Fritzevich Appoga (russian: Эрнест Фрицевич Аппога, lv, Ernests Apoga; 1898 – November 28, 1937) was a Soviet general and revolutionary who was given the position of Komkor on November 11, 1935. He was born in pre ...

Artur Artuzov Artur Khristyanovich Artuzov (name at birth: Artur Eugene Leonard Fraucci) (russian: Арту́р Христиа́нович Арту́зов (), (18 February 1891 – 21 August 1937) was a leading figure in the Soviet international intelligence a ...

* Ölziin Badrakh *

Žanis Bahs Žanis Bahs (also Žanis Bachs; 1885–1941) was a Latvian general. He fought in World War I and later in the Latvian War of Independence, where he commanded a division in the Republic of Latvia. After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 Bahs ...

Mikhail Batorsky Mikhail Alexandrovich Batorsky (; 25 January 1890 8 February 1938) was a Red Army Komkor. The son of an officer and a member of the nobility, Batorsky fought in World War I as a staff officer, ending the war with the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Alexander Bekzadyan Alexander Harutyuni Bekzadyan ( hy, Ալեքսանդր Հարությունի Բեկզադյան; 1879 August 1, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet statesman of Armenian descent. After serving as Soviet ambassador to Norway and Hungary ...

* Abram Belenky *

Alexander Beloborodov Alexander Georgiyevich Beloborodov (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Гео́ргиевич Белоборо́дов; 26 October 189110 February 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, party figure and statesman b ...

* Boris Berman *

Matvei Berman Matvei Davidovich Berman (Russian: Матвей Давыдович Берман; April 10, 1898 – March 7, 1939) was a Soviet security officer and head of the Gulag Soviet prison camp system from 1932 to 1937.Khlevniuk, p. 346 Biography ...

Eduard Berzin Eduard Petrovich Berzin (russian: Эдуа́рд Петро́вич Бе́рзин, lv, Eduards Bērziņš; 19 February 1894 – 1 August 1938) was a Soviet Union, Soviet soldier، Chekism, Chekist and NKVD officer that set up Dalstroy, which ...

Reingold Berzin Reingold is a name. Notable people with the name include: Last name * Arvin Reingold (1930-2020), American lawyer and politician * Babs Reingold, American artist * David Reingold (born 1968), American sociologist * Edward Reingold (born 1945) ...

Yan Karlovich Berzin Yan (Ian) Karlovich Berzin (russian: Ян Карлович Берзин; lv, Jānis Bērziņš; real name Pēteris Ķuzis; , Kreis Riga (now in Zaube parish), the Russian Empire – 29 July 1938, Moscow, the USSR), was a Latvian Soviet communi ...

Anastasia Bitsenko Anastasia Alekseevna Bitsenko, née Kameristaya (russian: Анастасия Алексеевна Биценко, née Камeристая; 10 November 1875 – 16 June 1938) was a Narodnik-inspired, later Communist, Russian revolutionary. As a m ...

Waclaw Bogucki Wacław Bogucki (russian: Вацлав Антонович Богуцкий; 1884 19 December 1937) was a Polish revolutionary, Soviet politician and high-ranking official of Communist International who served as the First Secretary of the Commu ...

* Mykhailo Bondarenko * Mieczysław Broński * Pyotr Bryanskikh *

Andrei Bubnov Andrei Sergeyevich Bubnov (russian: Андре́й Серге́евич Бу́бнов; 23 March 1883 – 1 August 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary leader, one of Bolshevik leaders in Ukraine, Soviet politician and military leade ...

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Буха́рин) ( – 15 March 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, Marxist philosopher and economist and prolific author on revolutionary theory. ...

Pavel Bulanov Pavel Petrovich Bulanov (Russian: Па́вел Петро́вич Була́нов; 1895 – March 15, 1938) was a NKVD officer and one of the defendants in the Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites". Bulanov was born in 1895 in ...

Dadash Bunyadzade Dadash Hodge oglu Bunyadzade (1888–1938) was the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic from 14 March 1930 to 23 October 1932. During the Great Purge, he was arrested, accused of ...

Hayk Bzhishkyan Hayk Bzhishkian ( hy, Հայկ Բժշկյան, Persian هایک پزشکیان, Russian: Гайк Бжишкян, also known as Guy Dmitrievich Guy, Gai Dmitrievich Gai (Гай Дмитриевич Гай), Gaya Gai (Гая Гай), or Bzhishky ...

Hugo Celmiņš Hugo Celmiņš (October 30, 1877 – July 30, 1941) was a Latvian politician, a public employee, agronomist, twice the Prime Minister of Latvia (''19 January 1924 – 23 December 1925, 1 December 1928 – 26 March 1931''). Arrested and deported t ...

* Mikhail Chernov *

Sergey Chernykh Sergey Aleksandrovich Chernykh (russian: Сергей Александрович Черных; – 16 October 1941) was a Soviet fighter pilot in the Spanish Civil War who went on to become a Major-general and commander of the 9th Mixed Aviation ...

Jūlijs Daniševskis Jūlijs Kārlis Daniševskis (russian: Карл Юлий Христианович Данишевский, Karl Yuri Hristianovich Danishevsky; 15 May 1884, Doblen County – 8 January 1938, Kommunarka shooting ground, Moscow Oblast), alias Herma ...

* Yakov Davydov * Terenty Deribas *

Dansranbilegiin Dogsom Dansranbilegiin Dogsom ( mn, Дансранбилэгийн Догсом; 1884 – July 27, 1941) was a prominent Mongolian revolutionary leader and post-Revolution political figure in Mongolian People's Republic. He served as Chairman of the P ...

Pavel Dybenko Pavel Efimovich Dybenko (russian: Павел Ефимович Дыбенко), (February 16, 1889 – July 29, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a leading Soviet officer and military commander. Prior to military service Pavel Dybenko was b ...

Robert Eikhe Robert Indrikovich Eikhe ( lv, Roberts Eihe (Ēķis), russian: Роберт Индрикович Эйхе; August 12, 1890 — February 4, 1940) was a Latvian Bolshevik and Soviet politician who was the provincial head of the Communist Party o ...

Ivan Fedko Ivan Fyodorovich Fedko (Russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Федько́; July 6, 1897 – February 26, 1939) was a Soviet Komandarm 1st rank and army commander. He was born in what is now the Left-bank Ukraine. He fought in the Imperial Russi ...

* Peter Maximovich Feldman * Filip Filipović * Rashid Khan Gaplanov * Ilya Garkavyi *

Aleksei Gastev Aleksei Kapitonovich Gastev (russian: Алексей Капитонович Гастев) (8 October 1882, Suzdal, Vladimir Governorate – 15 April 1939, Kommunarka, Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary, a pioneering theorist of the scienti ...

Anatoliy Gekker Anatoly Ilyich Gekker (russian: Анатолий Ильич Геккер; – 1 July 1937) was a Soviet military commander (Komkor) involved in the Russian Civil War. Gekker was born into a family of a military doctor in Tiflis (Tbilisi), Georgia ...

* Nikolai Gikalo *

Vladimir Gittis Vladimir Mikhailovich Gittis (Russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Ги́ттис; 24 June 1881 – 22 August 1938) was a Soviet military commander and komkor. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before going o ...

Vasily Glagolev Vasily Vasilyevich Glagolev (russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Глаго́лев; 21 February 1896 – 21 September 1947) was a Red Army Colonel general, Hero of the Soviet Union, and commander of the Soviet airborne (VDV). After i ...

* Konstantin Grigorovich *

Edvard Gylling Edvard Otto Vilhelm Gylling (30 November 1881 – 14 June 1938) was a prominent Social Democratic and later Communist politician in Finland, later leader of Soviet Karelia. He was born in Kuopio. He was a member of Parliament of Finland for ...

Hryhoriy Hrynko Hryhoriy Fedorovych Hrynko ( uk, Григорій Федорович Гринько; in Shtepivka – March 15, 1938) was a Soviet Ukrainian statesman who held high office in the government of the Soviet Union. Initially he was a member of the ...

Akmal Ikramov Akmal Ikramovich Ikramov (Russia: Акмаль Икрамович Икрамов; Uzbek: Akmal Ikromovich Ikromov; 1898 – 13 March 1938) was an Uzbek politician active in Uzbek SSR politics and served as the First Secretary of the Central Com ...

Chingiz Ildyrym Chingiz Ildyrym oglu Sultanov ( az, Çingiz İldırım oğlu Sultanov) (10 July 1890 – 27 July 1937) better known as Chingiz Ildyrym, was an Azerbaijani Bolshevik revolutionary, innovator and the first People's Commissar for Military and Nava ...

Uraz Isayev Uraz Januzaquly Isayev ( kk, Oraz Januzaquly Isaev, May 28, 1899 - August 29, 1938) was a Kazakh Soviet politician. He was prime minister of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (May 1929 - December 1936) and the Kazakh Soviet Socialist R ...

* Vladimir Ivanov *

Bruno Jasieński Bruno Jasieński , born Wiktor Bruno Zysman (17 July 1901 – 17 September 1938), was a Polish poet, novelist, playwright, Catastrophist, and leader of the Polish Futurist movement in the interwar period.Dr Feliks TomaszewskiBruno Jasieński. Biog ...

Semyon Kamenev Semyon Alekseyevich Kamenev (russian: Семён Алексеевич Каменев, 1895 14 March 1938) was an educator, professor, writer, Soviet propagandist of atheism and a scientific worker in the study of problems of religion and atheism. ...

Grigory Kaminsky Grigory Naumovich Kaminsky ( az, Ҝригориј Камински Наум оғлу, italic=no, Griqoriy Kaminski Naum oğlu, russian: Григорий Наумович Каминский; 1 November 1895 – 10 February 1938) was a Soviet p ...

Georgii Karpechenko Georgii Dmitrievich Karpechenko (1899 in Velsk, Vologda Governorate – July 28, 1941) was a Russian and Soviet biologist. His name has sometimes been transliterated as Karpetschenko. G. D. Karpechenko specialized in plant cytology and created se ...

Innokenty Khalepsky Innokenty Andreyevich Khalepsky (14 July 1893 – 29 July 1938) was a Soviet general, formerly also the People's Commissar for Communications of the USSR. He was a recipient of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner. As head of the De ...

Fayzulla Khodzhayev Faizullah, also spelled Fayzullah or Feizollah ( ar, فيزالله ) is a male Muslim given name, composed of the elements ''Faiz'' and '' Allah''. It means ''Success from God'' or ''Victory from God''. In modern usage it may appear as a surname. ...

* Vasiliy Khripin * Grigory Kireyev * Vladimir Kirshon *

Vladimir Klimovskikh Vladimir Yefimovich Klimovskikh (russian: Владимир Ефимович Климовских; May 27, 1885July 27, 1941) was a Soviet general who served as the Chief of Staff of the Western Special Military District and the Western Front unde ...

* Nikolai Klestov *

Vilhelm Knorin Vilgelm Georgiyevich Knorin (russian: Вильге́льм Гео́ргиевич Кно́рин, Latvian: ''Vilhelms "Vilis" Knoriņš''; (29 August 1890 – 29 July 1939) was a Latvian Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, publicist and hi ...

Lazar Kogan Lazar Iosifovich Kogan (russian: Ла́зарь Ио́сифович Ко́ган) (November 7, 1889 – March 3, 1939) was a Soviet secret police (Cheka, OGPU, NKVD) high-ranking functionary, chief of the Gulag (1930–1932) and deputy chief of t ...

Nikolai Kondratiev Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kondratiev (; also Kondratieff; Russian: Никола́й Дми́триевич Кондра́тьев; 4 March 1892 – 17 September 1938) was a Russian Soviet economist and proponent of the New Economic Policy (NEP) best k ...

August Kork August Ivanovich Kork (, also Аугуст Яанович Корк; 11 June 1937) was an Estonian Red Army commander (Komandarm 2nd rank) who was tried and executed during the Great Purge in 1937. Kork became an officer of the Imperial Russi ...

Ivan Kosogov Ivan Dmitryevich Kosogov (russian: Иван Дмитриевич Косогов, 1891 – 1 August 1938) was a Soviet Komkor (corps commander). He fought on the side of the Bolsheviks against the White movement during the Russian Civil War. He w ...

* Yepifan Kovtyukh *

Nikolay Krestinsky Nikolay Nikolayevich Krestinsky (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Крести́нский; 13 October 1883 – 15 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician who served as the Responsible Sec ...

Nikolai Krylenko Nikolai Vasilyevich Krylenko ( rus, Никола́й Васи́льевич Крыле́нко, p=krɨˈlʲenkə; May 2, 1885 – July 29, 1938) was an Old Bolshevik and Soviet politician. Krylenko served in a variety of posts in the Sovie ...

Pyotr Kryuchkov Pyotr Petrovich Kryuchkov (russian: Пётр Петро́вич Крючко́в; 12 November 1889, Perm, Russia, Perm – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet Union, soviet lawyer and the secretary of Maxim Gorky. Career Pyotr Kryuchkov was born in Perm ...

Béla Kun Béla Kun (born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. After attending Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoc ...

Vladimir Lazarevich Vladimir Salamovich Lazarevich (russian: Влади́мир Салама́нович Лазаре́вич, be, Уладзі́мір Саламо́навіч Лазарэ́віч; Sokółka, Grodno Governorate, 15 September 1882 – Moscow, 20 ...

Eduard Lepin Eduard Davydovich Lepin (russian: Эдуард Давыдович Лепин, lv, Eduards Liepiņš; 1889 – 22 August 1938) was a Soviet division commander and Komkor of Latvian people, Latvian ethnicity. He fought in the Russian Civil War agai ...

Izrail Leplevsky Izrail Moiseyevich Leplevsky (Russian: Израиль Моисеевич Леплевский; 1894 – July 28, 1938) was a Soviet security officer. He was part of the Intelligence Service and Secret police apparatus in the Ukrainian Soviet Social ...

Mikhail Levandovsky Mikhail Karlovich Levandovsky (russian: Левандовский, Михаил Карлович; May 15, 1890 – July 29, 1938) was a Soviet Komandarm 2nd rank. He fought in World War I in the Imperial Russian Army and in the Russian Civil War i ...

* Lev Levin * Ivan Lorents *

Darizavyn Losol Darizavyn Losol ( mn, Дарьжавын Лосол ; April 15, 1890 – July 25, 1940) was a revolutionary leader and post-Revolution governmental figure in Mongolia until he was purged in 1939. Early life Losol (or "Darizhavyn" or "Darijavyn" ...

* Dorjjavyn Luvsansharav * Maksim Mager *

Theodore Maly Theodore Maly (1894 – 20 September 1938) was a former Roman Catholic priest and Soviet intelligence officer during the 1920s and 1930s. He lived illegally in the countries where he worked for the NKVD and was one of the Soviet Union’s most effec ...

Mykola Marchak Mykola Makarovych Marchak ( uk, Микола Макарович Марчак; 5 January 1904 – 23 September 1938) was a Ukrainian and Soviet politician, who was the acting Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR (tod ...

Joseph Meerzon Joseph Isaakovich Meerzon (October 31, 1894 – February 10, 1938) was a Bundist and later Soviet politician. He was educated at Moscow State University. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1918 and started as Secretary of the Di ...

* Shmarya Medalia * Stanislav Messing *

Romuald Muklevich Romuald Adamovich Muklevich (, pl, Romuald Muklewicz, 25 November 1890 – 9 February 1938) was a Soviet military figure and Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Naval Forces from August 1926 to July 1931. Early life Muklevich was born in Supra ...

Georgii Nadson Georgii Adamovich Nadson (, Kiev – April 15, 1939) was a Soviet biologist, "one of the pioneers of radioecology in Russia"D. I. NikitinSoil Microbiology at the Institute of Microbiology.Russian Academy of Sciences He became professor at St. Peters ...

Jamshid Nakhchivanski Jamshid Jafargulu oglu Nakhchivanski ( az, Cəmşid Cəfərqulu oğlu Naxçıvanski; August 23, 1895 – August 26, 1938), also known as Jamshid Khan Nakhichevanski, was a Russian Imperial, Azerbaijani and Soviet military commander. He rose to ...

Stepan Oborin Stepan Ilyich Oborin (; 15 August 1892 – 16 October 1941) was a Red Army major general. Oborin served as a gunner in the Imperial Russian Army in World War I and subsequently joined the Red Army. He fought in the Russian Civil War and became an ...

Valerian Osinsky Valerian Valerianovich Obolensky (Russian: Валериа́н Валериа́нович Оболе́нский; 25 March 1887 – 1 September 1938) (who worked under the pseudonym Nikolai Osinsky) was a Russian Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russia ...

Eduard Pantserzhanskiy Eduard Samuilovich Pantserzhanskiy (; – 26 September 1937) was a Russian military leader, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Naval Forces from December 1921 to December 1924. Biography Pantserzhanskiy was born in Liepāja, Latvia the son of ...

Karl Pauker Karl Viktorovich Pauker (January 1893, in Lviv – 14 August 1937, in Moscow) was an NKVD officer and head of Joseph Stalin's personal security until his arrest and execution. Pauker was born into Jewish family in Lviv, which was then part of ...

* Dmitry Pavlov *

Jēkabs Peterss Jēkabs Peterss (russian: Я́ков Христофо́рович Пе́терс, ''Yakov Khristoforovich Peters'', en, Jacob Peters; – 25 April 1938) was a Latvian people, Latvian Communist revolutionary who played a part in the es ...

Osip Piatnitsky Osip Aaronovitch Piatnitsky (russian: Осип Аронович Пятницкий; Iosif Aronovich Tarshis, 29 January 1882, Kovno Governorate – 29 July, 1938, Moscow), was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. Piatnitsky is best reme ...

Boris Pilnyak Boris Andreyevich Pilnyak (''né'' Vogau russian: Бори́с Андре́евич Пильня́к; – April 21, 1938) was a Russian and Soviet writer who was executed by the Soviet Union on false claims of plotting to kill Joseph Stalin and ...

Yevgeny Polivanov Yevgeny Dmitrievich Polivanov (russian: Евге́ний Дми́триевич Полива́нов; – 25 January 1938) was a Soviet linguist, orientalist and polyglot who wrote major works on the Chinese, Japanese, Uzbek and Dungan langua ...

Yakov Popok Yakov Abramovich Popok (1894–1938) served as the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR. His term began in August 1930, replacing Grigory Aronshtam. He fell ill in early 1937, causing him to resign on 15 April. H ...

* Bronislava Poskrebysheva * Nikolay Rattel *

Arkady Rosengolts Arkady Pavlovich Rosengolts (Russian: Арка́дий Па́влович Розенго́льц; 4 November 1889 – 15 March 1938; sometimes spelled Rosengoltz or Rosenholz) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet military leader, politician an ...

Kustaa Rovio Kustaa Adolf Simonpoika Rovio (23 January 1887 in Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly ...

Jānis Rudzutaks Jānis Rudzutaks (russian: Ян Эрнестович Рудзутак, Yan Ernestovich Rudzutak; – 29 July 1938) was a Latvian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician. He was executed during the Great Purge. Early life Rudzutaks was ...

Alexei Rykov Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (25 February 188115 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 to 1930 respectively. He wa ...

Turar Ryskulov Turar Ryskululy Ryskulov ( kk, Тұрар Рысқұлұлы Рысқұлов, ''Tūrar Rysqūlūly Rysqūlov''; Russian: Турар Рыскулович Рыскулов; 26 December 1894 – 10 February 1938) was a Soviet politician, the chair ...

* Andrei Sazontov *

Vasily Schmidt Vasily Vladimirovich Schmidt (Russian: Василий Владимирович Шмидт; December 17, 1886 – July 28, 1938) was a Bolshevik politician, and later a Soviet statesman. Born in Saint Petersburg to a German Russian working-class f ...

* Alexander Sedyakin *

Alexander Serebrovsky Alexander Pavlovich Serebrovsky (russian: Александр Павлович Серебровский; – 10 February 1938) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet petroleum and mining engineer nicknamed the "Soviet Rockefeller". Biography ...

* Suren Shadunts *

Vasily Sharangovich Vasily Fomich Sharangovich (russian: Васи́лий Фоми́ч Шаранго́вич; be, Васіль Фаміч Шаранговіч, Vasil Sharanhovich; March 4, 1897 – March 15, 1938) was Belarusian Soviet politician and first secretary ...

* Zolbingiin Shijee *

Boris Shumyatsky Boris Zakharovich Shumyatsky (russian: Бори́с Заха́рович Шумя́цкий; November 16, 1886 – July 29, 1938) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician, diplomat and the ''de facto'' executive producer for the Soviet film monopolie ...

* Jan Spielrein *

Sergey Spigelglas Sergey Mikhailovich Spigelglas or Spiegelglass or Shpigelglas (russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Шпи́гельглас) (29 April 1897 – 29 January 1941) was acting head of the Soviet foreign intelligence service, then part of th ...

* Mikhail Svetšnikov *

Pavel Sytin Pavel Pavlovich Sytin (russian: Павел Павлович Сытин) (30 July .S. 18 July1870 Skopin – 22 August 1938 Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet military leader who reached the rank of major general in the Imperial Russian Army. He fo ...

Alexander Svechin Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Branislaw Tarashkyevich Branislaw Adamavich Tarashkyevich, russian: Бронисла́в Ада́мович Тарашке́вич, lt, Bronislavas Taraškevičius, pl, Bronisław Adamowicz Taraszkiewicz (20 January 1892 – 29 November 1938) was a Belarusian public fi ...

Alexander Tarasov-Rodionov Alexander Ignatyevich Tarasov-Rodionov (russian: Алекса́ндр Игна́тьевич Тара́сов-Родио́нов; October 7, 1885 – September 3, 1938) was a Russian/Soviet writer and revolutionary, best known for his novel "Chocol ...

Mikhail Trilisser Mikhail Abramovich Trilisser (russian: Ме́ер Абра́мович Трили́ссер; born Meier Abramovich Trilisser) (1 April 1883, in Astrakhan – 2 February 1940), also known by the pseudonym Moskvin (russian: Москви́н), was a S ...

* Jozef Unszlicht * Maksim Unt *

Semyon Uritsky Semyon Petrovich Uritsky (russian: Семён Петро́вич Ури́цкий; March 2, 1895 – August 1, 1938) was a Soviet General. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks. He was promo ...

* Aleksandr Uspensky * Leonid Ustrugov *

Jukums Vācietis Jukums Vācietis (russian: Иоаким Иоакимович Вацетис, link=no, ''Ioakim Ioakimovich Vatsetis''; 11 November 1873 – 28 July 1938) was a Latvian Soviet military commander. He was a rare example of a notable Soviet leader w ...

Yakov Yakovlev Yakov Arkadyevich Yakovlev (real name: Epstein; russian: Я́ков Арка́дьевич Я́ковлев, 9 June 1896, Grodno – 29 July 1938) was a Soviet politician and statesman who played a central role in the forced collectivisation of ag ...

Yefim Yevdokimov Yefim Georgievich Yevdokimov (russian: Ефи́м Гео́ргиевич Евдоки́мов; – 2 February 1940) was a Soviet politician and member of the Cheka and OGPU. He was a key figure in the Red Terror, the Great Purge and '' dekulak ...

Konstantin Yurenev Konstantin Konstantinovich Yurenev (russian: Константи́н Константи́нович Юре́нев), also known as Konstantin Konstantinovich Krotovsky (russian: Константин Константинович Кротовский ...

* Leonid Zakovsky *

Isaak Zelensky Isaak Abramovich Zelensky (russian: Исаа́к Абра́мович Зеле́нский) (22 June 1890 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician, Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party official, and a victim of the ...

* Nikolai Zhilyayev *

Prokopy Zubarev Prokopy Timofeevich Zubarev (russian: Проко́пий Тимофе́евич Зу́барев; February 1886 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet politician and statesman. He was purged and executed during the "anti-Trotskyist" repressions of Sta ...

An elite burial ground

Leading Bolsheviks convicted at the two later Moscow Show Trials were among the many prominent Party leaders buried at Kommunarka, particularly those publicly tried convicted at the so-called

Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites" The Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites" (or "Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites") (), also known as the Trial of the Twenty-One, was the last of the three public Moscow trials charging prominent Bolsheviks with espionage and tre ...

in March 1938. (Some defendants from the second Show Trial in January 1937 like Beloborodov and Bubnov who were charged but did not appear in court were also buried at Kommunarka.) Yagoda has already been mentioned. Most of the other defendants in the March 1938

Trial of the Twenty One In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

are listed above: Bukharin, Rykov, Krestinsky, Rosengolts, Vladimir Ivanov, Mikhail Chernov, and Isaak Zelensky; Uzbek leaders Akmal Ikramov and Faizulla Khodjaev; Vasily Sharangovich, Prokopy Zubarev, and NKVD officer Pavel Bulanov; Kremlin doctors Lev Levin and Ignaty Kazakov; Venyamin Maximov-Dikovsky and Pyotr Kryuchkov, Maxim Gorky's secretary. (Missing from the list are

Rakovsky Rakovsky is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Christian Rakovsky (1873–1941), Bulgarian and Soviet socialist revolutionary *Igor Rakovskiy, Igor Rakovsky (born 1975), Russian footballer *Martin Rakovský (''c''. 1535–1579), R ...

, Bessonov and Pletnyov who were given heavy terms of imprisonment in 1938. Later they were summarily executed in 1941 during the first months of the war.) Among the Mongolian revolutionaries (Badrakh, Dogsom, Losol, Luvsanshara and Shijee), the writers (Pilnyak, Kirshon, Jasienski), Red Army and NKVD officers (Agranov, the Berman brothers, Berzin, Kogan, Pauker) there were also two Central Europeans. Bela Kun headed the short-lived 1919 Soviet republic in Hungary; ex-priest Theodore Maly recruited Soviet agents abroad and in the mid-1930s was for a while handler of the

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted for ...

spy-ring.

References

External links