Researchers of the Crimean Federal University got the figures on previously unknown defenders of the peninsula, who took part in the Crimean War. Specialists clarified the burial places of the soldiers and now they prepare to install 15 steles with the names of the fallen defenders. The statement was given by the senior lecturer of the Department of Earth Sciences and Geomorphology of the Crimean Federal University Gennadiy Samokhin, reports Crimean Information Agency.
The information was obtained from the documents of the XIXth century. The initiative group researched the “parish registers” written by priests, who read a funeral service for fallen soldiers. The scanned records were kept in the district center of the region of Tyumen and access to them was granted upon a request of the Crimean Eparchy.
“Today, we know more than 2000 names and surnames of defenders of Sevastopol. Currently, we found out where they came from, their military grades, marital status and exact burial sites. Presently, there are several mass burial grounds located within the territory of the peninsula and some of them don’t have any information traces. We have already created 15 granite steles with the records imprinted on them that we have obtained previously, they will be installed in Bakhchisarai. There is no even a memorial sign over there, though from 2000 to 4000 warriors were buried in that place”, — Gennadiy Samokhin told.
Having analyzed the archive documents, the specialists of the CFU could determine the location of the burial sites of the Russian soldiers in 22 inhabited localities of the Crimean peninsula. There were privates of peasant serf and noble origin and even a major general among the buried defenders. Now, the parish records were made to an electronic spread sheet and translated into Russian. The geography of warriors, who had fallen during the war of 1853-1856 covers 42 regions of Russia within its modern borders, thus people living beyond the peninsula can be interested in those findings.
“Bakhchisarai will be the first point, we want to involve all regions of Crimea. The installation of memorial signs is especially interesting in Staryi Krym, as the military cemetery of the period of the Crimean War could be seen from the Tavrida Highway. Moreover, we continue our activity on determining the location of burial sites, as we know only large cemeteries and talking about the small ones, the information about them is rather diffused. The good example is the settlement of Tankovoye, which is located in the Bakhchisaraiskiy District. All we know about it is that the defenders of Crimea are buried there, but if we want to obtain more exact data, then we will need to cooperate with historians and research ancient maps”, — scientist added.
According to Gennadiy Samokhin, it’s quite necessary to involve historians and graphologists to continue the further work. The first memorial signs are planned to be installed in the middle of June and it will be carried out with the support of the State Council of Crimea, executive directorate of the Russian Geographical Society and representatives of the regions of Russia.
