The Secrets of Tatarka: The Forgotten Victims of Communist Terror

On the southern outskirts of Odessa, near the 6th kilometer of the Ovidiopol road, lies one of the most horrifying secrets of the 20th century – the NKVD special site 'Tatarka', a place of mass graves for victims of communist terror. This is reported by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory in Odessa.
In the 1930s and 40s, punitive NKVD units operated here. People were brought here after nighttime 'triple' arrests, executed, and buried without crosses, without names, and without the right to be remembered.
«This is Ukraine's Bykivnia in Odessa – a death ground that Moscow tried to erase from memory,» experts note.
In 2007, the remains of over 1,000 bodies were first discovered here, victims of mass shootings from 1937-1938.
During research in 2021 by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory and volunteer historians, 29 burial sites with human remains were found. The total number of buried individuals is estimated to range from several thousand to 8,000, according to estimates by the UINP and archival studies.
«Among the dead are peasants, teachers, military personnel, priests, Poles, Bulgarians, Jews, Ukrainians… All those who opposed Soviet power with their minds, faith, or simply their freedom of thought. 'Tatarka' is not an isolated case. Similar tragedies occurred in Bykivnia near Kyiv, in Vinnytsia, and in Kharkiv. However, the burial site in Odessa is one of the largest in Southern Ukraine. Here, where once trading routes crossed and kobzars sang, lie the nameless martyrs of the Ukrainian nation,» researchers write.
Archaeologists, historians, and forensic experts are already calling for large-scale DNA identification and the creation of a memorial. They insist that this is not just excavation – it is the restoration of names.
«Every found bone is evidence of a crime that Moscow has hidden for decades under the label 'top secret.' Odessa must remember. Odessa is a city that witnessed the darkest pages of totalitarianism. Here, Ukrainians were killed for their language, faith, and for not wanting to be slaves of the empire. And today, as Russia once again brings terror to Ukraine, we must loudly declare: «We know our executioners. And we know our martyrs.» Memory is our weapon against oblivion.
We cannot bring back life, but we can restore dignity.
These sites must become national memorials, places of historical education and commemoration – not only for Ukraine but for the world,» historians assert.