The communal graves of the Great Patriotic War (photo)

The mass graves of the Great Patriotic War Today they remind us of the fierce confrontation of the Soviet people with fascism.

How mass graves appear

Mass graves occur during the death or killing of people in large numbers. In the first place, this can be the result of fierce battles. It is then that the bodies of the dead soldiers are buried in one pit. Fraternal burials are called because all the buried here gave their lives as brothers for one common cause. But this is not the only way to form a mass burial of people. The reason is also epidemics, when so many people die that there is simply no one to bury them one at a time. It can be innocently killed in concentration camps or died from wounds and illnesses in a hospital. The first appearance of group graves refers to antiquity. Then they were called scoundrels.

The main reason for the occurrence

The territory of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War was captured by the enemy many kilometers from the border. In the occupied lands, the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War were formed. A huge number of such burials appeared for the same reasons. The first of them is that in the first months of the clash with the enemy the Soviet army was forced to retreat. Forces and time to bury all the dead on the battlefield, was not. If there was even the slightest opportunity to honor the funeral of the killed soldiers and officers with honor, then they tried to use it. There was no time to build a single burial for each warrior. I had to bury everyone in a common grave. Originally installed at least some kind of board with the date of burial and the names of the buried. Often, such inscriptions were made on the materials they had on hand. He became a tree, which easily collapses under the influence of natural factors. It quickly decays, it can burn during a fire. Such pedestals could simply be used by other soldiers to keep warm or cook their own food.

Another reason for the appearance

There are several more reasons why the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War arose . War brings to life people unusual for everyday life tests. Overcoming hunger and disease becomes the most important task for every person. And a soldier in the trenches, and a civilian, the will of fate found himself in the territory of direct military operations. Hospitals could not help every needy. The sick, the wounded, the exhausted died. Next to each new location of the mobile hospital, there were group graves. The account of the news was not always possible. And in the case when they delivered such a patient in unconsciousness and without documents, they could not even recognize the name. Therefore, often group graves were carried out only with an indication of the date of creation and the number of buried corpses. Hospitals moved after their troops. On the way of their success new points of mass burial of people appeared.

The Worst Cause

And, finally, the most horrible reason why the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War appeared on earth. These were the orders in effect in the occupied territory that the fascist authorities established. The plan adopted by Hitler even before the war, clearly gave an idea of the so-called new life. Places for freedom, for prosperity in this mode was not. For any disobedience to the authorities, everyone who manifested this disobedience was sentenced to a single punishment - execution. The underground and partisans were massively annihilated, any person suspected of having links with them. There are cases of destruction of all members of individual families or residents of entire settlements. The symbol of such barbarism was the burning of all people in the village of Khatyn.

Even greater contribution to the formation of group graves was made by the concentration camps that existed during the war. Here the price of human life was reduced to a minimum. The murders were daily and numerous. The bodies were dumped into dug trenches or ravines and fell asleep on the ground.

Recover the name of each soldier

The war continues until the name of every soldier who gave his life for his homeland will not be restored. This is the installation of numerous search units that have taken responsibility and have embodied their intention in reality. After the end of the war many small burials were transferred to one larger one. This was done in the framework of the project on enlarging the fraternal graves.

As a result of the work, numerous mass graves of the Great Patriotic War were formed. List Buried in each specific case requires compilation and refinement. The search engines do their best to ensure that each body is identified. A huge help in this matter is played by personal belongings found. It could be a mug or a spoon with initials, a Red Army book or a membership card, letters from home or, conversely, home. Paper data carriers can rarely overcome the influence of time and maintain their integrity. Soldiers' medallions would have coped with this task, and then the identification of the remains would have been more effective. But it was impossible to provide every warrior with such an attribute. It was believed that duplication of data on a person on a medallion is not necessary.

Smolensk - the true price of victory

On the Smolensk land, the fascist invaders hosted more than two years (26 and a half months). During this long period the Nazis destroyed Soviet citizens without age and sex. One hundred thirty-five thousand tortured and executed people - this is the result of their atrocities. Only in Smolensk were found 87 graves with the bodies of the dead. Their remains were decided to be transferred to the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War.

The Smolensk region was the site of the formation of the one hundred and twenty-sixth concentration camp. There are data on the human losses in this factory of death: up to three hundred deaths every day. The corpses were thrown into the grave and sprinkled with earth. The memory of such atrocities is preserved for the sole purpose: to prevent the recurrence of such events. On the site of this camp rest the bodies of 45 thousand soldiers and 15 thousand on the site of the branch, the so-called small camp under the same number 126. Monuments and obelisks do not allow losing contact with the past war. Their elevation above the surrounding landscape is mute cries of the feat of the dead soldiers.

Defending the approaches to the capital

The Kaluga region is on the last dozens of kilometers to the center of our country - Moscow. For seven hundred and sixteen days, that there were fascists in this territory, more than 240,000 defenders of the Soviet land were killed. Since those memorable years, the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War of the Kaluga region have been preserved on the battlefields. Their total number exceeds five hundred pieces. Soldiers and officers, privates and generals found their last shelter on this earth. Abundantly poured by the blood of their defenders, the Kaluga land preserves the memory of their valiant feat. Numerous obelisks, memorials and monuments remain a place of mass worship of descendants to their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The memory of the heart does not leave indifferent young boy and hardened hard worker.

Everyone bows his head in gratitude. There is a mess in the lists of graves. Many data about the soldiers were mixed up or initially inaccurate. Therefore, the descendants have yet to restore the names of those who have not spared their lives for the freedom of the Kaluga land.

Kursk - returned names for the Victory anniversary

The city of Kursk is one of the places of battles that went down in history as a great turning point during the Second World War. In the most populated area and in the surrounding territories, remains of soldiers are still found. In the center of the city there was found a group burial of the executed hens. Here are the bones of women and children, which speaks of the atrocities of the fascists. The search work allowed to find several soldier medallions. The remains of all the dead are reburied. Of the numerous small graves, larger mass graves of the Great Patriotic War were formed in Kursk.

By the 70-year anniversary of the end of the war, more than a thousand names have been restored. Officially, one thousand one hundred hundred names of the dead heroes were engraved on granite slabs. Soldiers and officers who paid their way to victory for their lives received a survey and identification of their remains. Most of the work to revive the memory of nameless heroes is carried out.

The last shelter in a foreign land

Having restored the borders of the Soviet Union, the USSR troops continued their way to the den of fascism. On this road it was not easy to pass. To free the countries of Europe from the invaders had several more long months. In every country, people died. They died from enemy bullets, died on the roadside, drowned in rivers and swamps. Places where the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War in Poland are located are sites of fierce battles or mass shootings of local residents.

Along with the already familiar finds, when graves with thousands of corpses are found, something very unusual is encountered. In the city of Kostshin, a burial was found with the bodies of decapitated soldiers. As it turned out later, in the mid-fifties it was decided to rebury the remains of the soldiers in order to enlarge the mass graves. To deal with such a difficult matter was entrusted to the municipal public service. Normative documents of the time suggest that the transfer of the remains was carried out "on the head". Therefore, only the head and sometimes the upper part of the trunk were transferred. All other parts of the skeleton remained in their original place. Such a blasphemous attitude can not but arouse displeasure. Therefore, it was decided to continue the exhumation and complete the transfer of all the remains of the deceased defenders of the city.

Photos of monuments

Each burial of soldiers and officers has an individual appearance. The uniqueness of the place of mass burial began in the war years. View photos of the mass graves of the Great Patriotic War can be on the sites of municipalities. It can be a traditional stele, which bared the soldiers' head or a list of names on a granite slab. There are very unusual specimens. For example, a grave building from a tank. Modern designers offer other options for capturing the names of those killed in stone. The more difficult it is to destroy a monument, the longer the memory of the valor of a Soviet soldier will survive.

Not all names have been restored, there are common graves of the Great Patriotic War with unknown heroes. Families of such soldiers still consider their great-grandfathers missing. Find them and find out the place of the last refuge - the duty of every representative of the great people.