Kurapaty (Belarusian: Курапаты) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, where in 1941 a vast number of people were executed. At least 30,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 people are estimated to have perished there. There have been investigations by both the Soviet, and Belarusian governments, which have been inconclusive as to the perpetrators. Believed either to be the Soviet NKVD, or the invading German forces. dziady_minsk_belarus_{PD} File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Location Location of Minsk, shown within the Minsk Voblast Government Country Subdivision Belarus Minsk Founded 1067 Mayor Mikhail Pavlov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 305. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... The NKVD (Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del )(Russian: НКВД, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел) or Peoples Commisariat for Internal Affairs was a government department which handled a number of the Soviet Unions affairs of state. ...

The discovery by historian Zianon Pazniak and exhumation of the remains in 1988 gave an added momentum to the pro-democracy and pro-independence movement in Belarus in the last years of Soviet Union before it collapsed. Zianon Pazniak Dr. Zianon Paźniak (Belarusian: Зянон Пазьняк, * April 24, 1944) is a famous Belarusian nationalist politician and public activist, one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front and leader of the Christian Conservative Party of the BPF. Zianon Pazniak was born in Subotniki, Hrodna Province. ... By other animals Humans are not the only species to bury their dead. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The rise of Gorbachev Although reform stalled between 1964–1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. ...

United States President Bill Clinton visited Kurapaty forest in 1994, when he came to Belarus with a "thank you" visit after Belarus agreed to ship nuclear weapons back to Russia. Clinton presented a small granite monument "To Belarusians from the American people", perhaps the first post-Soviet cultural artefact from the U.S. on Belarusian soil. The monument was damaged three times by unidentified vandals, but subsequently restored. William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ...

In 2001, when the Kurapaty site came under the threat from a planned widening of the Minsk Ring Road, its defenders (youth from the Belarusian Popular Front, Zubr and smaller organizations) occupied the site and sat out a bitter winter in tents. 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MKAD is the name of the beltway that goes around Minsk, Belarus. ... Belarusian Popular Front Revival or BPF (Belarus during the perestroika times. ... Zubr (Belarusian: ЗУБР) is a civic youth organization in Belarus in opposition to President Aleksandr Lukashenko. ...

On October 29, 2004, the Jewish community of Belarus installed a monument in memory of the Jews and other nationals who were murdered in Kurapaty forest. The brown granite stone has two inscriptions in Yiddish and in Belarusian: "To our fellow-believers—Jews, Christians and the Muslims—the victims of Stalinism from the Belarusian Jews." October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... Yiddish (Yid. ... Joseph Stalin. ...

Each year in November, on Dziady (the All Saints or the day when Belarusians commemorate their deceased forefathers), hundreds of people visit this site of crimes of Soviet political repression. The first such demonstration in 1988, in which there were tens of thousands of participants, was brutally dispersed by the police. Officials from the administration of Alexander Lukashenko do not recognize the Kurapaty case as a certain Soviet crime against humanity and never mention Kurapaty in public. Dziady was an ancient Slavic feast to commemorate the dead. ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) Translation: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem: The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital (and largest city) Moscow Official languages None; Russian de facto Government Socialist Republic/Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev... Political repression is the oppression or persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take part in the political life of society. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko or Alyaksandar Ryhoravich Lukashenka (Belarusian: , Russian: ) (born August 30, 1954 at Kopys, Vitebsk voblast) has been the President of Belarus since 1994. ... A crime against humanity is a term originating in Western system international law that refers to acts of persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people, as being the criminal offence above all others. ...

Gallery

Minsk ring road under construction through the Kurapaty massacre site (2001) Image File history File links KURAPATY1. ...	Protesters' tent (2001) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (961x665, 85 KB) Summary Protesters tent at Kurapaty, Minsk, 2000. ...	Militia watch over protesters (2001) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (924x583, 69 KB) Summary Militsia watch over protesters at Kurapaty, 2000. ...	Crosses and 1989 memorial stone at center of site (2001) Image File history File links KURAPATY4. ...
Close-up of memorial stone (2001) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (677x973, 64 KB) Summary Memorial stone at Kurapaty, Minsk, 2000. ...	Remnant of a memorial placed by US President Bill Clinton, later destroyed (2001) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (601x880, 39 KB) Summary Remains of a memorial bench placed by US President Clinton at Kurapaty, 2001. ...

See also

• Katyn massacre
• Bykovnia
• Great Purge
• NKVD massacres of prisoners

Mass graves at Katyn war cemetery The Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre (Polish: , literally Katyń felony), was a mass execution of Polish citizens ordered by Soviet authorities in 1940. ... Bykivnia (Ukrainian: , Russian: , Polish: ) is a small village on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine. ... The Great Purge (Russian: , transliterated Bolshaya chistka) is the name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the late 1930s. ... Massacre of prisoners was a series of massacres committed by Soviet NKVD on prisoners in cities in the annexed territory of Poland close to the border with the part of Poland occupied by Germany and from which the Red Army was withdrawing after the German invasion in 1941. ...

External links

• A book available online: "Kurapaty – The Road of Death"
• Archive photos from the Kurapaty forest (2001-2004)
• Kurapaty - The Road Of Death
• Kurapaty forest on Wikimapia

Coordinates: 53°58.50′N 27°35.10′E // WikiMapia is an online map resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information (in the form of a note) to any location on the globe. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...