Exhumation of ancient graves is underway at the Lychakiv military cemetery (above the burial place of the newest Heroes of Ukraine). The work is carried out by specialists of the “Fate” Memorial and Search Center. As of now, it was possible to find the remains of 186 people.
According to Svyatoslav Sheremety, head of the Memorial Search Center, 95% of the burials were carried out after the Second World War, and only a few – during the First World War.
“According to the accompanying material on the remains, it has been established that these are military burials, and almost all of them are from the period after the Second World War,” noted Svyatoslav Sheremet.
He added that they plan to finish the work on the currently fenced area by the end of this week. Then the fence will be moved to the next area – higher. And here they will continue research and exhumation. Instead, in the first section, the administration of LKP “Museum “Lychakiv Cemetery” will be able to carry out restoration works.
We will remind you that there was a cemetery from the time of the First World War on the territory where the exhumation is being carried out. Servicemen of various armies who took part in the military operations of that time on our territory are buried here (the armies of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the German Kaiser’s army, the Turkish army, the Russian imperial army). In addition, the Soviet authorities conducted their own, “additional” burial when they came to Lviv.
“During the interwar years, burials from the time of the First World War were moved from this part of the territory and they did it in bad faith: the Soviet authorities “drove” with tractors to the place of burials of the soldiers of the First World War, destroyed everything and began to carry out burials on top of it,” – said the mayor’s adviser on conservation issues of cultural heritage Liliya Onishchenko.
In addition, exhumation work at the Lychakiv cemetery is carried out on the basis of all necessary permits and approvals from local self-government bodies and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.
The found burials of the First World War will be moved nearby, to fields No. 84 and No. 85, where the Memorial Complex will be built in the future. Instead, the rest from Soviet times (1944-1950s) will be kept in a special depository until further decisions are made.
We will remind you that the city plans to announce an international architectural competition for the construction of the Memorial complex here.