From 1918 until the end of the 1930s prisoners were shot and buried in the ravine behind the old Stefanovskoe town cemetery on Mount Krasnaya.

In 1930 Veliky Ustyug became a staging point in the despatch of forced settlers, dekulakized peasant families, to the north. The town’s monasteries were re-equipped as a camp in which many died of hunger and disease while waiting to leave for their place of exile. The dead were transported to the town cemetery and thrown into the ravine. Old inhabitants recall that several dozen bodies were buried in one grave and in winter they were not even covered with earth but with bast matting.

In 2004, at its own expense, the Stefanovo church erected a commemorative cross where the executions had taken place. It also cares for the memorial area.