During the Great Terror (1937-1938) those sentenced to death were shot in Serpantinka, the isolation and interrogation centre of Sevvostlag. It is known from oral testimony and the publications of former prisoners that those executed were buried in mass graves near the prison. The numbers shot here has not been established; the lists are unavailable. Annual spring floods gradually washed away the burials and the remains of the victims were carried away by the Xatynnakh river.

In the 1980s gold prospectors came across human remains and bullets. The burial site was not then investigated. In 1991 a memorial was erected at the turn off the main road to the victims by the activists of the movement “In search of the unlawfully repressed”. The plaque reads: “In the 1930s the Serpantinka interrogation prison stood nearby. Tens of thousands of repressed citizens whose remains lie in this valley were executed here”. Local enterprises provided workers, equipment and materials at no charge and enthusiasts were fully engaged in the work. The monument was formally opened on 22 June 1991. Soon a personal memorial was added, a cross commemorating F.N. Zhdan, a prisoner who died in the Nizhny At-Uryakh camp outpost.

In 2007 a local businessman built a commemorative pavilion next to the monument. Solemn meetings are held on 22 June. The centre for children’s artistic development in Yagodnoe organises a yearly visit to the site on that date; schoolchildren come earlier to clear and tidy the area.