page_title: Bykivnia graves
section_title: Commemoration
hierarchical_section_title: Bykivnia graves / Burial site / Commemoration
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument in Bykivnia. Українська: Один з пам'ятників на території державного історико-меморіального заповідника «Биківнянські могили» під Києвом.
context_page_description: The Bykivnia graves is a National Historic Memorial on the site of the former village of Bykivnia on the outskirts of Kiev. 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".
  The number of dead bodies buried there is estimated between "dozens of thousand," to 30,000, to 100,000 though some estimates place the number as high as 200,000.
context_section_description: It was not until the 1990s that the authorities of independent Ukraine confirmed the burial of thousands of victims there. On April 30, 1994, a large memorial to the victims of communism was opened in Bykivnia. Around the same time archaeological works started, with both Ukrainian and Polish scientists taking part. In 2001 the government of Viktor Yanukovych proclaimed the will to convert the Bykivnia woods into a State Historical-Memorial Complex "Graves of Bykivnia". The plan was brought to life by Viktor Yushchenko on May 17, 2006. In a step toward uncovering this part of Ukraine's history, Viktor Yushchenko became the first Ukrainian president to take part in the annual Day of Remembrance ceremony on May 21 to honor the estimated 100,000 people buried in the mass grave on the outskirts of Kiev. "We must know the truth. Why did our nation lose more than 10 million people without a war?" Yushchenko said during the 2006 event.
  Since 2006, Polish researchers have found a number of bodies of Poles, prisoners killed in spring 1940 during the Katyn massacre. Apart from bodies, Polish researchers found everyday use things, such as a comb, on which the owner, an unknown Polish officer, carved several names, such as Franciszek Strzelecki, Ludwik Dworak and Szczyrad ... (this potentially might be referring to Colonel Bronisław Mikołaj Szczyradłowski, deputy of commandant of Lwów's defense in September 1939). Also, a dog tag belonging to Sergeant Józef Naglik, soldier of the Skalat Battalion of the Border Defence Corps, was found at the same spot. All the names belong to the "Ukrainian list" of Katyn massacre victims, and serve as proof that Bykivnya is connected to the Katyn crime.
caption: Bykivnia monument
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