Research project on the Donskoye cemetery
Statue and memorial stone for the German victims of Stalinism, which was inaugurated on July 1, 2005 at the Donskoje cemetery.
Research project on the Donskoye cemetery
After the collapse of the socialist state system, more and more information about the victims of Stalinism reached the public. Affected families reported on the disappearance of their relatives in the media for the first time and increasingly searched for reasons for arrests and executions.
From 1990, researchers were able to analyze Soviet and East German secret service sources. In 1992, Memorial International published the first Russian Book of the Dead for the Donskoye cemetery on this basis.
In 2004, a unique research project began: Memorial International, Facts & Files and the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship jointly researched the German victims of Stalinism who were shot in Moscow. The biographies of 927 German men and women were documented for the first time.
On July 1, 2005, a memorial stone for the German dead was solemnly dedicated at Moscow’s Donskoye Cemetery.
The Book of the Dead with the biographies of the 927 victims appeared in 2008 in a third, completely revised edition and was republished in 2020. In 2023, the now 928 biographies were published online in the digital Book of the Dead at www.donskoje1950-1953.de.
Donskoye cemetery during the inauguration of the memorial stone for the German victims of Stalinism on July 1, 2005 / Facts & Files, Berlin / Christian Reinhardt
Grave no. 3 with memorial stones. Since 1992, several memorials have been erected on the three known mass graves at the Donskoye cemetery.
Relatives of Werner Wendt during the funeral service at the Donskoje cemetery on July 1, 2005.
Donskoye cemetery during the inauguration of the memorial stone for the German victims of Stalinism on July 1, 2005.
As part of the research project supported by the Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, Facts & Files Berlin and Memorial International Moscow evaluated previously unknown sources in several German and Russian archives. Thanks to the generous support of many family members, it was also possible to include private files and images in the research work.
Book of the Dead with biographies of 927 German victims, published by Memorial International, Facts & Files and Stiftung Aufarbeitung, 2005.
Book of the Dead with biographies of 5,056 Stalin victims of various nationalities who were buried at the Donskoye cemetery between 1935 and 1953, 2005.
Facts and figures
Distribution of convictions and executions in the years 1950-1953 and origin of the 928 Germans buried in the Donskoye cemetery (60 women, 868 men). In total, SMT passed 1,012 death sentences against Germans in these years.
First and last executions of Germans in Moscow:
22.04.1950: Alexander Haage and Kurt Jahnke – 15.12.1953: Walter Linse and Herbert Kaiser
Sons of Gerhard Priesemann studying the MGB investigation file in the FSB Central Archives in Moscow, 2005.
Letter from the KGB dated December 3, 1990 to the Moscow city administration officially confirming the existence of mass graves at the Donskoye cemetery and elsewhere.
Cover page of the KGB/FSB list no. 36 of those shot and buried at the Donskoye cemetery.
Excerpt from the KGB/FSB list no. 36 with the entries on Gerhard Priesemann and others.
