Butovo firing range
The Butovo Firing Range or Butovo Shooting Range (Russian: Бутовский полигон, romanized: Butovskiy poligon) was an execution site of the Soviet secret police located near Drozhzhino in Leninsky District, Moscow Oblast from 1938 to 1953. Its use for mass execution has been documented; it was prepared as a site for mass burial. According to Arseny Roginsky, "firing range" was a popular euphemism adopted to describe the mysterious and closely-guarded plots of land that the NKVD began to set aside for mass burials on the eve of the Great Terror.
| Butovo Firing Range | |
|---|---|
Бутовский полигон | |
| Details | |
| Established | 8 August 1937 |
| Location | Drozhzhino, Leninsky District, Moscow Oblast |
| Country | Russia |
| Coordinates | 55°31′51.96″N 37°35′40.92″E |
| Type | Mass grave |
| Owned by | Russian Orthodox Church |
| Find a Grave | Butovo Firing Range |
Butovo was used for mass executions and mass graves during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, with 20,761 prisoners of various nationalities documented as being transported to the site and executed by the NKVD and its successor agencies. The exact number of victims executed at Butovo remains unknown as only fragmentary data has been declassified. Notable victims at Butovo include Gustav Klutsis, Seraphim Chichagov and Saul Bron; in addition, more than 1000 members of the Russian Orthodox clergy.
The Russian Orthodox Church took over the ownership of Butovo in 1995, commissioning construction of a large Russian Revival memorial church, and the mass grave memorial complex can be visited daily.