Moloch of Totalitarism, Memorial monument at Levashovo Memorial Cemetery, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The Moloch of Totalitarism is a 3.8-metre copper sculpture made by hammering (repoussé), standing on a granite base 2 by 2 metres and 0.6 metres high, facing the entrance of the Levashovo memorial cemetery in Saint Petersburg. The symbolic figure, conceived by the artists in 1992, grips, violates and devours a human being. The word "ГОСТ" (state standard) is stamped on its side.

The memorial was created in 1996 by sculptors Nina Galitskaia and Vitaly Gambarov to commemorate victims of Soviet repression. The cemetery itself became a burial ground during the darkest years of political persecution in the Soviet Union.

The name plays on Moloch, the Canaanite deity to whom children were sacrificed in the Old Testament, used figuratively for a force demanding human victims. On the sculpture's side is the Soviet stamp "GOST", marking the state standard of the killing machine. Some observers read its placement outside the cemetery as a symbolic bar on evil entering sacred ground.

The monument stands opposite the entrance to the Levashovo Memorial Cemetery, reached from Levashovo station via Gorskoye Highway, 143. It can be reached by car, bus or suburban train. The sculpture is outdoors and freely viewable; allow time for the walk through the grounds.

More than 1,300 personal memorial plaques encircle the main sculpture, with each one representing someone whose remains rest in mass graves across the cemetery grounds. These plaques are often modest yet moving, serving as a way for people to acknowledge and honor those who might otherwise be forgotten.