Gomel authorities denied permission for service near NKVD victims’ graves — Interia

In Gomel, Belarus, local authorities did not issue permission for a Catholic service near the mass graves of victims of Stalinist repressions. This is the first such case since the collapse of the USSR, Interia reports, citing the Katolik.life portal.

Tradition interrupted on the Day of Remembrance of the Dead

Every year on November 2, the Day of Remembrance of the Dead, which in Belarus is also called Dziady, Catholics gathered near a cross on the outskirts of Gomel. There are mass graves of people shot by the NKVD there. Among the victims were believers, including clergy of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

According to Katolik.life, local authorities refused to approve the service for the first time this year. As a result, believers were unable to gather at a place that has been an important center for commemorating victims of Soviet repressions since the early 1990s.

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Memory of the repressed

For many years, Gomel remained the last place in Belarus where Catholics could publicly hold services near the burial sites of victims of Stalinist repressions. In recent years, prayers there were led by Bishop Kazimir Vialikaselets, who died in early 2026.

Similar events were also previously held at the Kurapaty tract near Minsk. Since 1989, residents of the Belarusian capital had come there to honor the memory of people killed by the NKVD. According to estimates cited in the article, between 30,000 and 250,000 people were shot there in 1937–1941.

In 2020, a Dziady march in Kurapaty was dispersed by OMON units. In 2023, the Belarusian authorities banned public commemorations of victims at this site. On Friday, European diplomats honored the memory of the repressed in Kurapaty and prayed near the Polish Cross dedicated to the victims of the NKVD’s Polish Operation of 1937.