In Tomsk, unknown individuals removed a "Last Address" sign dedicated to a repressed typographer.
A plaque for the repressed technical director of the printing house "Red Banner" to Mark Pilnikov Mark Pilnikov was accused in November 1936 of participating in an "anti-Soviet terrorist, counterrevolutionary organization of Mensheviks, allegedly operating in Tomsk." On October 29, 1937, he was sentenced to death by firing squad, and executed that same day.
According to a museum volunteer "NKVD Investigative Prison" by Stanislav KarmakskikhThe circumstances under which the "Last Address" sign disappeared remain unknown. The owner of the building where the sign was installed claimed he had not touched it. Who did it remains unknown.
This is not the only case where Tomsk и Tomsk area Unknown individuals are removing or destroying memorials to the victims of Stalin's repressions. In November 2022, vandals destroyed several memorials dedicated to repressed Poles. Commemorative plaques were removed from the memorial stone in Memory Square and from the building that housed the Polish Orphanage in the 40s.
Unknown individuals also tore down plaques and removed a cross from a monument to Poles in the village of Bialystok, Tomsk Oblast. A year later, the Tomsk Catholic community restored the cross. In December 2022, a cross and a memorial plaque were vandalized in the village of Polozovo, Molchanovsky District. Police have not found the perpetrators of the vandalism.
Photo: TV2