Sandarmokh, Memorial site in Medvezhegorsk district, Russia
Sandarmokh is a forested memorial site in Medvezhegorsk district, Karelia, located about 19 kilometers from the town of Medvezhegorsk. The grounds cover seven hectares and contain 150 burial pits with 400 individual grave markers scattered among pine and birch trees.
Between 1937 and 1938, during the Great Terror, Soviet authorities executed more than 4,500 prisoners from Belbaltlag camp and Solovki prison at this location. The mass graves were discovered only in 1997, and the area was subsequently developed into a memorial.
The name Sandarmokh comes from the Karelian language and means 'swamp pine forest,' describing the natural surroundings where the memorial now stands. Visitors walk among trees marked with memorial plaques, each one bearing names of those who died here.
The site is located along the Medvezhegorsk-Povenets highway and can be reached by a paved access road. Visitors should wear weather-appropriate clothing, as the grounds are open air and not sheltered.
The grounds contain 236 communal pits where people of 58 different nationalities were buried. This makes it one of the largest discovered mass grave sites from the Stalin era.
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