(1) Kurapaty is one of those places that deserves better attention. Here's a thread.

This massacre site was "rediscovered" in the context of the glasnost era in 1988, however the discoverers were halted before they could conduct a full investigation https://twitter.com/franakviacorka/status/1296830594270232579

(2) The above plus the fact that NKVD documents (especially relating to it) remain classified in Belarus means that there is still much that we do not know about Kurapaty. Initial estimates placed that 150,000 persons are buried here. It could well be higher.

(3) The “rediscovery” along with the Chernobyl disaster. (Note: Most of the radioactive fallout drifted northwards into Belarus) helped in the process of reawakening Belarusian national sentiment in the 1980s and early 90s.

(4) It should be of little surprise that this is why Lukashenka wants to keep the memory of what happened here under thumb. Since coming to power he has made no effort whatsoever in preserving the memory of what happened at Kurapaty.

(5) Indeed the Belarusian dictator likes the idea of slowly demolishing the forest in order to make way for buildings and roads. Keeping the memory of what happened here alive is therefore a symbol of the Belarusian opposition to Lukashenka.

(6) Unsurprisingly, this is why yearly memorial services find themselves getting disrupted by authorities and erected crosses commemorating the victims tend to find themselves being torn down.

(7) Some context regarding Stalin's repressions including the repression of the Belarusian peoples

On July 30, 1937, Nikolai Yezhov signed a document (No. 00447) ordering a campaign of punitive measures against so-called "former kulaks, active anti-soviet elements, & criminals."

(8) This was a campaign to be conducted by quota in every Oblast and Autonomous Republic, with the punishments for the above defined being either death by shooting or imprisonment within the Gulag system for so-called "less active" anti-soviet elements.

(9) Once a said quota was filled, local NKVD authorities (Troikas) would actively request an extension. Going to Ukraine for a moment, Israel Leplevsky - head of the NKVD in the Ukrainian SSR between 1937-8, not only requested an increase in quotas on at least three occasions

(10) but also expanded the scope of Order no. 00477 so as to cover the repression of supposed Ukrainian nationalists with the favoured methods of dealing with such elements being executed or sent into the Gulag system.

(11) Between 1937-8 alone, some 70,868 persons in the Ukrainian SSR were shot because of this order. Between January and August 1938, some 35,563 persons were shot.

It mattered little to the executioners how old or young the victims were.

(12) According to what Yeltsin released in 1995 (note! See below) 688,000 sentences were issued between 1937-8 across the USSR resulting in 681,692 persons being shot over the same time period as a result of this order. Over 90% of sentences were handed out by local NKVD Troikas.

(13) It's worth remembering that the above figures simply represent just the tip of an iceberg and also the above does not take into account the numbers who were imprisoned and perished in the Gulag system because of this order. Also, repressions continued long after 1938.

(14) There were other linked orders tied to the repression of other nationalities. One example being Order. 00485, signed by Yezhov, ordering the destruction of Poles in the USSR, many of which resided within the Belarusian SSR.

(15) Under 00485, almost 140,000 people were arrested of which 111,071 at least were executed.

There is some broader context that has to be mentioned also.

(16) Much like the Ukrainian SSR to the south, discontent at the loss of an independent Belarusian state at the hands of the Red Army persisted after 1920, particularly amongst Belarusian intellectuals who had not given up upon the concept of preserving their culture

(17) Subsequent Soviet policies revolving around the theme of “Belarusisation,” much like “Ukrainianisation” were based on attempts to consolidate Soviet rule by appeal to culture.

This resulted in something of a split within the Belarusian Govt in exile (BNR)

(18) as a number of its most prominent figureheads including the prominent Historian and prime minister of the BNR Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski returned home in order to partake in this new Belarusian-Soviet atmosphere. For all those that did, it was to prove a fatal mistake.

(19) By 1928 Stalin overturned all policies that fell under the supposed bracket of "deviating towards nationalism."

Belarusian intellectuals and those associated with the above policy were subsequently targeted on the grounds of promoting "bourgeois nationalism".

(20) Fictitious plots revolving around the theme of Intellectuals wanting the Belarusian SSR to break-away from the USSR were “uncovered” and those dubiously associated with them were sent away to be shot. That was how Łastoŭski was murdered on January 23, 1938.

(21) Stalin also had a habit of blending his anti-Belarusian paranoia with his deep hatred of Poles. Other prominent Belarusian intellectuals such as Ihnat Dvarãanin and Jasep Haurylik, were for example shot by the NKVD after having been accused of being “Polish spies.”

(22) By 1934, these repressions gained a further momentum when the murder of Sergei Kirov became a catalyst that culminated in the "great terror" in which Stalin sought to wipe out anyone within the Communist Party, his government, his army etc suspected of being "disloyal."

(23) Most charged were either shot on the spot or imprisoned within the Gulag system, or murdered in specially designated massacre sites across the USSR. How many of these have yet to be discovered is still anyone's guess.

(24) If there is one takeaway from this thread, it is that for the sake of the victims who are buried at Kurapaty, a full investigation into this massacre site and all its surrounding mysteries is long overdue.

One can only hope that it happens in the not too distant future.