Bykivnia graves
| Bykivnia graves | |
|---|---|
| Ukrainian: Биківнянські могили | |
Bykivnia central monument | |
Map of Bykivnia grave site | |
| 50°28′N 30°42′E / 50.467°N 30.700°E | |
| Location | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Founded | April 30, 1994 (as a complex) |
| Purpose | "To commemorate the victims of political repressions". |
| Architects | M. Kysly, R. Kukharenko, V. Chepelyk (sculptor) |
| Designation | National Historic-Memorial Reserve |
| Established | April 30, 1994 |
| Type | Memorial site |
| Prescribed | May 22, 2001 |
| Declared | National monument, May 17, 2006 |
| Official name | Меморіальний комплекс в пам'ять жертв політичних репресій 1930-х років (Memorial complex in memory of victims of political repressions in the 1930s) |
| Type | History |
| Reference no. | 260004-Н |
The Bykivnia graves (Ukrainian: Биківнянські могили) are a National Historic Memorial next to the former village of Bykivnia (Ukrainian: Биківня, Polish: Bykownia) within Kyiv woodland, Bykivnia Forest. During the Stalinist period in the Soviet Union, it was one of the unmarked mass grave sites where the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, disposed of thousands of murdered "enemies of the Soviet state". Bykivnia as a residential place still exists as a locality with the same Bykivnia Forest. The National Memorial is located across Brovarskyi Prospect from Bykivnia, next to the former Rybne Soviet fishery in the thick of the woods.
The number of dead bodies buried there is estimated between "dozens of thousand", to 30,000, to 100,000. Some estimates place the number as high as 200,000.