Mass Grave of Soviet Soldiers (Anapa)

The Mass Grave of Soviet Soldiers is a memorial complex in the old city cemetery of Anapa, off Protapova Street, in Krasnodar Krai. More than 200 people are buried here: soldiers who fell fighting for the town or died in military hospitals, and civilians of Anapa killed during the occupation.

History

Anapa was under Nazi occupation for 385 days, from 31 August 1942 until 21 September 1943, when the town was liberated. Fallen soldiers and townspeople killed by the occupiers were buried in the city cemetery, and two mass graves took shape here: the "Mass grave of Soviet soldiers and civilians of Anapa tortured by the fascist occupiers, 1942–1943" and the "Mass grave of Soviet soldiers, 1943".

The first monument over the graves was put up in 1947, and the memorial took its present form in 1975. In 1996 the "From the Children of War" memorial sign by sculptor V. P. Polyakov was added. In 2010, for the 65th anniversary of the Victory, new slabs were installed with the names of newly identified soldiers who had died in hospitals and of Anapa residents missing in action on the war fronts.

The memorial

At the centre stands a stele about two metres high with a sloping top, faced with marble tiles and bearing an inscription to those who fell for the Motherland and to the victims of fascism, 1941–1945. Around it is a platform of large concrete slabs with tomb pedestals and marble plaques carrying the names of the buried and memorial texts. The complex also contains the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

For anyone researching the war graves of Anapa's old cemetery, this is the main site: its plaques carry the names of the soldiers and townspeople who died in 1942–1943 and of Anapa residents who never came back from the front.

Getting there

The memorial is inside the old city cemetery. From the Central Embankment in the town centre it is about a 40-minute walk along Krymskaya Street. City buses stop at the "Kladbishche" (Cemetery) stop, and a taxi from the centre takes 10–15 minutes. The memorial grounds are open to visitors around the clock.