Relocation underway of Põlva Soviet-era monuments, human remains
The Estonian War Museum is relocating Soviet monuments in Põlva Municipality, with any associated human remains to be reinterred at a cemetery near the South Estonian town.
On Tuesday morning, excavation began at a burial site next to the Soviet-era monument in the Põlva muusikakool music school park, in the town center. Human remains buried at various times have been uncovered.
"The first burial site we found near Põlva — originally a smaller mass grave brought from Peri (a nearby village – ed.) and reburied here in plastic wrapping — revealed Soviet soldiers who had been reinterred in the town center at the end of the war, or shortly after. It was clear they had been recovered mostly intact, placed in coffins, and brought here," war museum archaeologist Arnold Unt said.
A Soviet-era list of the buried names over 100 Red Army soldiers associated with the site, though the number of sets of human remains excavated from the mass grave is estimated at more like 30.
The remains will be buried at the nearby Rosma kalmistu cemetery, along with any found at other monument sites within municipal boundaries.
"This week, the plan is to remove all such monuments across Põlva Municipality — in Põlva, Tilsi, Vastse-Kuuste, and Ahja — and to rebury the remains where they rightly belong. We have identified Rosma kalmistu, within the municipality, as that location. The monuments will be transferred to a museum," Annely Eesmaa, public relations specialist at Põlva Municipality, told "Aktuaalne kaamera."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine brought the many relics of the Soviet occupation of Estonia, which lasted half a century, under scrutiny. In the case of monuments with war or other graves in situ, often the monument is wholly removed or the overtly Soviet symbology removed and the structure left; in either case, human remains are reinterred intact and at a cemetery.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
