Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repressions in Kyrgyzstan Date in the current year: November 8, 2024

The term “Great Purge” refers to a campaign of political repression carried out by Joseph Stalin and his accomplices in the 1930s. It began as a purge of the government officials and army leadership. However, in the course of time intelligentsia (artists, writers, intellectuals) and peasants were also imprisoned and executed.

According to statistics, the Great Purge took the lives of tens of thousands citizens of Kyrgyzstan. However, only 137 bodies were found near the village of Chon-Tash in Chui Province. The victims were taken from Bishkek and shot to death in November 1938 by the Soviet secret police, NKVD. Among them were scientists, teachers, politicians, writers. One of the victims was Torokul Aitmatov, the father of the famous Kyrgyz author Chyngyz Aitmatov.

The bodies was discovered in 1991 and reburied. In 2000, the Ata-Beyit Memorial Complex was build at the site. On November 8, remembrance ceremonies are held here to honor the memory of all repression victims.