Soviet war graves relocated in Estonian military cemetery

Soviet war graves relocated in Estonian military cemetery. Photo: FOTO: Madis Veltman

Last week, the remains of 36 Red Army soldiers were interred at the Defense Forces Cemetery in Tallinn, as their original burial site was needed for the construction of an access route and memorial area near the Cross of Liberty monument.

The Red Army veterans were reburied in a section of the cemetery near Filtri Road, where space was available. Hellar Lill, director of the Estonian War Museum, said that the remains of 36 Red Army soldiers were reburied, while the relatives of three deceased requested their burial elsewhere.

«The burial ceremony was conducted with solemnity and dignity, attended by some descendants of the reburied, and with an Orthodox priest reciting prayers,» Lill said.

For the time being, the graves are marked with wooden boards bearing numbers. Soon, headstones with the names of the buried will be placed at the cemetery.

Lill said that the area in front of the Cross of Liberty monument will be renovated as soon as all the requested bids have been received and the best ones selected. Access to the monument, built in 1940, demolished in 1950, and restored in 1998, has been lacking because the area in front of it was occupied by the graves of Soviet soldiers.