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Reburial ceremony held in Minsk for World War I soldiers

A reburial ceremony was held in Minsk on August 14 for World War I soldiers.

The ceremony took place in the area on Charvyakova Street where there had been a WWI cemetery.

The cemetery, which represented an abandoned asphalted area until 2008, was established in 1914 by a City Duma decision to bury the Russian Empire’s Orthodox Christian soldiers killed in World War I. More than 5,000 people, mostly Russian soldiers who died in Minsk hospitals, are believed to have been buried there, mainly in common graves. After the Second World War, the cemetery was turned into an animal market. The market, called Starazhowski Rynak, was pulled down in the 1990s and the remaining asphalted area received the status of a protected heritage item and was entered in a government register. In late 2002, the culture ministry authorized extensive excavation work at the site. As a result, about 150 square meters of graves was destroyed.

The issue of the cemetery became again the focus of public attention after a trench started being dug there on May 30, 2008. A crawler excavator broke through the asphalt and unearthed large amounts of human bones, with workers putting the bones into plastic bags and taking them away.

Attending the reburial ceremony were representatives of the defense ministry, the central government, the local authorities and non-governmental organizations.

Admission was by invitation only. BelaPAN’s film crew was barred from attending the ceremony.

“My great-grandfather, Ivan Yafremavich Anapryyenka, lies in the cemetery, Anatol Anapryyenka told BelaPAN. “He was born on September 23, 1853 and died of wounds in 1916. He took part in battles where there is now Belarus, near Ashmyany. I am proud of my great-grandfather.”

Mr. Anapryyyenka said that he had found the grave of his great-grandfather through the Internet, after 30 years of search through archives and museums.