Bykivnia graves

Bykivnia graves
Bykivnia graves
Ukrainian: Биківнянські могили
	Bykivnia central monument
	Map of Bykivnia grave site
	50°28′N 30°42′E / 50.467°N 30.700°E
Location	Kyiv, Ukraine
Founded	April 30, 1994 (as a complex)
Purpose	"To commemorate the victims of political repressions".
Architects	M.Kysly, R.Kukharenko, V.Chepelyk (sculptor)
Designation	Historic complex of Ukraine
Established	April 30, 1994
Type	Memorial site
Prescribed	May 22, 2001
Declared	National monument, ; May 17, 2006

The Bykivnia graves (Ukrainian: Биківнянські могили) are a National Historic Memorial next to the former village of Bykivnia (Ukrainian: Биківня, Polish: Bykownia) within Kyiv woodland, Bykivnia Forest. During the Stalinist period in the Soviet Union, it was one of the unmarked mass grave sites where the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, disposed of thousands of executed "enemies of the Soviet state".

Bykivnia as a residential place still exists as a locality with the same Bykivnia Forest. The National Memorial is located across Brovarskyi Prospect from Bykivnia, next to the former Rybne Soviet fishery in the thick of the woods.

The number of dead bodies buried there is estimated between "dozens of thousand,"^[2] to 30,000,^[3] to 100,000.^[4] Some estimates place the number as high as 200,000.^[5]^[6]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Information at the Science-Researching Institute in Preservation of Monuments ^{[dead link]}^{with no Internet Archive}
^ Cheko, Polish Press Agency (September 2007). "Odkryto grzebień z nazwiskami Polaków pochowanych w Bykowni". Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). No. 2007–09–21. Archived from the original on December 21, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
^ "Ukraine reburies 2,000 victims of Stalin's rule". Reuters. 27 October 2007
^ Zenon Zawada (May 2006). "100,000 buried at Bykivnia recalled at Day of Remembrance". The Ukrainian Weekly. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
^ Raymond Pearson (2002). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire. Palgrave. p. 220. ISBN 0333948076.
^ Taras Kuzio; Andrew Wilson (1994). Ukraine: Perestroika to Independence. University of Alberta: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. ISBN 092086287X.

[NDI-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Information at the Science-Researching Institute in Preservation of Monuments ^{[dead link]}^{with no Internet Archive}

[PAP-2] Cheko, Polish Press Agency (September 2007). "Odkryto grzebień z nazwiskami Polaków pochowanych w Bykowni". Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). No. 2007–09–21. Archived from the original on December 21, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2007.

[reuters-3] "Ukraine reburies 2,000 victims of Stalin's rule". Reuters. 27 October 2007

[Zawada-4] Zenon Zawada (May 2006). "100,000 buried at Bykivnia recalled at Day of Remembrance". The Ukrainian Weekly. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.

[Pearson-5] Raymond Pearson (2002). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire. Palgrave. p. 220. ISBN 0333948076.

[Kuzio-6] Taras Kuzio; Andrew Wilson (1994). Ukraine: Perestroika to Independence. University of Alberta: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. ISBN 092086287X.

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