21:54, 10 May 2023

Monument to Stalin's deportees opened in Kalmykia

A monument to Stalin's deportees, photo by the press service of the Ketchenersky District of Kalmykia

In the village of Shin-Mer, a monument was opened to members of the Begshen-Shebener family clan, who were deported to Siberia in Stalin's time and returned to their homeland in 1957.

On December 28, 1943, the NKVD (Interior Commissariat) troops conducted the "Ulus" Operation to deport Kalmyks to Siberia and Far East. The Kalmyks were charged with treason, joining Germans' military units, and organizing an anti-Soviet movement. The Kalmyks' deportation was also seen as a means of resolving the national-political conflict (as defined by Joseph Stalin) with Kalmyks. The total number of evicted Kalmyks was about 120,000.

Yesterday (on May 9), a monument to the members of the Begshen-Shebener family clan, who were deported to Siberia in 1943, was opened in the Shin-Mer village of the Ketchenersky District of Kalmykia, the Telegram channel "Ketcheners Are Kalmykia's Heart" has reported. The monument was erected at the initiative of Vladimir Povaev, a local resident; the authors of the monument are Sergey Shalaev, the Honorary Architect of Russia, and Alexander Povaev, an artist.

"Undoubtedly, this place will become a place of worship for all Shin-Mer villagers," the message says.

According to Oleg Khlevnyuk, a scientific researcher at the International Centre for the History and Sociology of World War II at the "Higher School of Economics" National Research University, "many people are unaware or don't want to know that mass arrests, deportations and executions were carried out under Stalin on ethnic grounds, and that entire nations were declared as hostile."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 10, 2023 at 02:56 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot