Memorial to the Victims of the Deportation of 1944

Postcard showing the memorial among those representing the ruins of Grozny after the war of 1994-1996. The inscription on the wall means: "We will not weep! We will not break! We will not forget!"

The Memorial to the Victims of the Deportation of 1944 (Chechen: 1944 шарахь цIера баьхна нохчийн иэсан хIоллам, Russian: Мемориал жертвам депортации 1944 года) was a Chechen memorial in the center of Grozny, capital of Chechnya, opened in 1992[1] to commemorate the Chechen victims of the Stalinist regime during and following their forced relocation to Central Asia in February 1944.

Partially destroyed by bombing of the Russian army during the period 1994-1996 and 1999-2000, the memorial complex was again defaced in an attempt to demolish it conducted in 2008 by the authorities. At the time, the uproar of human rights defenders at this "barbarism"[2] and "vandalism"[3] saved "the only really Chechen monument of the city"[4] from the complete demolition, although, inevitably regarded as a symbol of independence, it was then enclosed by a fence, so that nothing was indicating to the uninitiated that a memorial or anything else was out there somewhere.

However, in February 2014, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Chechen people, the Memorial was finally and secretly dismantled "by order from above".[5][6] Tombstones which were an integral part of the composition were found planted on the Akhmad Kadyrov Place next to granite steles honoring the losses of the local pro-Russian power.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Мемориал жертвам депортации чеченцев и ингушей в 1944 г. : г. Грозный, центр : РОССИЯ. Чеченская Республика : Памятники и памятные знаки жертвам политических репрессий на территории бывшего СССР :: База данных :: Программа Память о бесправии :: Сахаровский центр". www.sakharov-center.ru.
  2. ↑ Узел, Кавказский. "В Чечне демонтируют Мемориал памяти жертв депортации 1944 года".
  3. ↑ Узел, Кавказский. "В столице Чечни обнаружены надмогильные плиты, использованные в качестве фундамента".
  4. ↑ Isabelle Astigarraga, Tchétchénie, Un peuple sacrifié, Paris : L’Harmattan, 2000, p. 260.
  5. ↑ "Память не слышит приказы сверху".
  6. ↑ "В Грозном убирают Мемориал памяти жертв сталинской депортации". 15 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Узел, Кавказский. "Чеченские власти демонтируют Мемориал памяти жертв депортации в Грозном".
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