On 5 August Victims of the Great Terror are remembered at Solovky

A Ukrainian delegation is at Solovky in Russia today to remember the victims of the Great Terror which to was unleashed on this day, 5 August 1937, 71 years ago. 

It was prepared for in a terrible document issued by NKVD Head Nikolai Yezhov on 30 July 1937.  This specified the procedure, periods and scale of repressive measures against “anti-Soviet elements”. There were two categories – one facing execution, the other – labour camp for 8-10 years.

Near the Solovky Islands is the Sandarmokh Clearing where from 27 October to 4 November 1937 1111 prisoners of the Solovky Labour Camp were murdered. . Among the victims were 290 Ukrainians.

According to Volodymyr Bephachnyuk, one of the participants of the delegation, remembrance ceremonies and other events will contined from 5 – 8 August at Solovky and the Sandarmokh Clearing to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Great Terror of 1937-1938.