Kutash settlement (c) Lithuanian graves | Russia's Necropolis of Terror and the Gulag

Kutash settlement (c) Lithuanian graves

Card

№04-04

Date of burial
1940s-1950s
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Address
Altai Republic, Maiminsky district, Kutash
Access in a populated area
On foot
Visiting Hours or Restrictions
Unrestricted
Type of burial
Deportees’ graveyard
Current use
Ceremonial events
Presence of memorials, etc.
Yes
Protected status
Not protected
Фотография Г. Алекны, 2009 год
Фотография Г. Алекны, 2009 год
Background

In 1941, in response to the 16 May 1941 Politburo resolution, about 130 deported Lithuanians were allocated to the Kutash settlement in the Ongudaisky district. Those who died were buried according to Catholic rites in a separate section of the graveyard, with headboards on their graves. The total numbers who died have not been established.

In 1990, relatives of the deportees buried in the graveyard visited Kutash and erected a monument there. It took the form of a brick wall with a niche, next to which was attached a metal plaque which reads (in Cyrillic script): “А † А / Exiles from Lithuania / Maria Matskevich, 1895-1942 / Cleophas Matskevich, 1899-1942 / Janina Jagelyova, 1869-1942 / Janina Jageliovna, 1899-1942 / Anna Kaminska, 1866-1942”. In 1991, Lithuanian researcher Gintautas Alekna studied the graveyard,  carried out a photo survey, uncovered 20 graves with surviving crosses and name plates, and drew up a plan of their layout and a list of those buried there.

In 2009, the cemetery was visited by Father Andrzej Obuchowski from Biisk and he conducted a memorial service there. In 2011, Alekna again visited the cemetery and the following year members of the “Destination, Siberia” youth expedition from Lithuania worked in the graveyard. They cleared the territory, restored the memorial erected in 1990, and placed a wooden crucifix (author Robertas Ozalinskas) in the niche.

Books of Remembrance

Research on the Genocide of the Lithuanian People (Lietuvos gyventoju Genocidas; 3 vols. 1999-2009) contains about 130,000 biographical entries (in Lithuanian). Vols. 1 & 2 cover the period from 1939 to 1947; vol. 3 from 1948 onwards.

Ceremonies
DateNature of ceremoniesOrganiser or responsible personParticipantsFrequency
nk
Commemorative services
nk
nk
From time to time
Nature of area requiring preservation
State of burialsAreaBoundaries
20 headboards have survived
not defined
not delineated
Administrative responsibility and ownership, informal responsibility for the site
On land under the control of the Maiminsky district administration
Sources and bibliography

[ original texts and hyperlinks ]

Note on the 1991 expedition by the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania

A report by Father Andrzej Obuchowski, 2009

G. Alekna, “Ekspedicija 2012. Altajus Kutašas” (YouTube film) retrieved 26 May 2022

“Ekspedicija Altajus 2012”, Lemtis (Destiny) association website (in Lithuanian)

Reply by the Maiminsky district administration (no date) to a formal enquiry of 19 February 2014 from RIC Memorial (St Petersburg)

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