Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Butovsky Shooting Range








The raised mounds are mass burial sites.




We visited shortly after Palm Sunday, know as Pussy Willow Sunday in Russia.

Our Tour Guides, the man spoke only Russian and was employed by the Orthodox Church and the translator and organizer of our tour.  

This church is built in the traditional Siberian style with no foundation, it sits on top of the earth.  In Siberia this is because of permafrost, here it is so not to disturb the mass graves.


There were several baptisms scheduled that day, we were able to visit the church between baptisms.  









Many of the icons in both (all three) churches depict the arrest, imprisonment and execution of especially the Orthodox Priests who were killed here.



The Priest was a former geologist and had traveled far and wide, the stone above was from Golgotha.


Geese, a hopeful sign of spring on this cold, snowy April day.



A family arriving for a baptism.

The Priest returning for another baptism.

Dates of executions






A map of the gulags and Shooting Ranges Across Russia.









This building was where the executioners received their orders and then had a drink of vodka and got cologne to mask the gunpowder and death stench.  It is being turned into a museum to commemorate the victims.  




This large church is built outside the gates and is in essence two churches, one on the lower level one on the upper.









There were about 1000 Orthodox Priests killed on the grounds, some 300 of them have been made Saints, the pictures and dates refer to when they were executed.  








There is an entire room of photos of the victims of Stalin's purge that were executed here.  











































Tea :)





This was a trip I felt compelled to go on...it was not an enjoyable one, although there was beauty.  There were more than 20,000 men, women, and children executed  and buried here between August 1937 and October 1938, that they have found records for.  The archeologists extrapolate it was more.  

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