The memorial complex containing the plaque was built on the site of a mass grave; all victims of repression buried there died in the Central Prison in Vladimir located near the cemetery. Even after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the memorial complex was regularly visited by foreign diplomats – writes Mediazona.

Leading up to its demolition, Russian pro-government media published articles criticizing the monument. “In the city of Vladimir today you can see several memorial plaques that are not dedicated to the inhabitants of this city, or even to the Russian people. This is a memorial plaque honoring a loyal enemy of our country who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. our colleagues,” Mediazona quoted a regime publication as saying.

Jan Jankowski was Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in the early 1920s. Later he also held important positions in the government. During World War II, he was director of the Department of Labor and Social Welfare of the Polish Government Delegation to Poland. He approved the decision to stop the Warsaw Uprising. In June 1945, the Soviet government sentenced him under the so-called Trial to sixteen to 8 years in prison. Two weeks before his sentence was to end (in 1953), he was probably murdered, and according to authorities Soviet Union died while in prison.

Blessed Clement Szeptycki he was a Greek Catholic priest and politician. He was arrested by the NKVD in 1947 and died in Vladimir prison four years later. In 1995, he was posthumously awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal by the Yad Vashem Institute. In 2001, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, for saving Jews from extermination during World War II.

The memorial plaques that were removed also included: Japanese General Akikusa Siuna and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania before the war.

In Russia, for some time, the authorities have removed information about memorial sites for the victims of Soviet repression; most of these are plaques, crosses and other memorial sites dedicated to the Polish people.

At the end of September, the authorities of Yakutsk, located in Siberia, removed a monument dedicated to exiled and repressed Poles who made a significant contribution to the development of Russian science; after exile, they studied local culture. There he is Wacław Sieroszewski, Edward Piekarski, Jan Czerski, Aleksander Czekanowski. Another plaque that was removed was dedicated to the victims of the exile of 17-19. and victims of 20th century political oppression.

In July from near here St. Petersburg the cemetery of victims of Stalinist repression, called Lewaszowski Pustkow, a cross commemorating the Poles killed there – victims of Stalinist purges with the inscription “We forgive and ask for forgiveness” disappeared. The building was inaugurated and dedicated in the early 1990s at the initiative of the local Polish community and the Memorial organization. (PAP)

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