Vilnius commemorates victims of Soviet repression at Tuskulėnai

Vilnius commemorated victims of Soviet repressive structures at Tuskulėnai on the day dedicated to their memory, LRT reported. Soviet security forces secretly buried nearly 800 people sentenced to death there between 1944 and 1947.

Most of those killed were Lithuanians, including partisans, resistance members, priests and prominent members of society. The victims also included people accused of criminal offences and people who had taken part in the Holocaust.

The grounds of the Tuskulėnai estate are officially described as a place that bears witness to the brutality and cruelty of the Soviet occupiers. Arūnas Bubnys, head of the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre, said the site’s history dates back to the 16th century, but it became best known for events in the middle of the 20th century, when executed resistance members were brought there and secretly buried.

Archaeological investigations in 1994 and 1995 uncovered most of the victims buried there. The Lithuanian government decided to establish a memorial park at Tuskulėnai in 2002, Bubnys said.