Far Eastern cemeteries as an object of study

Grinko Andrei Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0000-0002-9690-421X PhD in History Associate professor, Department of Humanities, Far Eastern State Agrarian University 675000, Russia, Amur region, Blagoveshchensk, Polytechnic str., 86 andrey2007-85@mail.ru

The cemetery is not only a burial place, but also a multi-layered monument designed to form a collective identity, preserve and broadcast the memory of generations of people who lived earlier. Cemeteries are the concentration of the socio-historical memory of entire communities of people, the past is concentrated here. The purpose of such "places of memory", based on the concept of P. Nora, is to stop time, block the work of oblivion, fix the present order of things, immortalize death, materialize the immaterial in order to enclose the maximum meaning in a minimum of signs ^[1]. Places of memory exist only because they are remembered. If the desire and opportunity to remember disappears, then the places of memory turn into places of oblivion.

The study of cemeteries allows us to better understand the specifics of the life of certain generations, the cultural characteristics of the corresponding era, the material well-being of certain segments of society and much more. The issue under consideration has not only a scientific, but also a moral aspect. The latter is clearly expressed in the attitude of living generations to burial sites and their condition. Outstanding personalities of the past (A.S. Pushkin, I.V. Goethe, etc.) repeatedly addressed the moral content of the problem of memory. The cemetery and its perception in different epochs is an indicator of the historical consciousness that existed and exists in society. "Even without knowing the use of letters, peoples already love History," wrote N.M. Karamzin, "the elder points to the young man at a high grave and tells about the deeds of the Hero lying in it" ^[2]. Researcher M.D. Artamonov noted that "... taking care of the graves of ancestors is one of the elements of the culture of any nation, an indicator of its spiritual health. Unfortunately, we didn't have an ancestor cult before and now, in the good sense of the word, and we don't. There is little writing about cemeteries, they are not studied enough, and little care is taken about burials. The graves of many, even outstanding sons and daughters of Russia, are overgrown with the grass of oblivion, and sometimes disappear completely" ^[3]. The solution of this moral problem is necessary and possible, as well as the solution of research problems in this area. Scientific study of cemeteries conducted within the framework of necropolistics (or necropoleology) as an auxiliary historical discipline, it is poorly manifested at the level of the Far East Of the East, although the importance of this work cannot be overestimated.

The cemetery acts as a funeral destination, intended for the burial of the remains and ashes of the deceased or deceased [GOST R 53107-2008 "Household services. Funeral services. Terms and definitions". URL: https://docs.cntd.ru/document/1200069390 Date of access: 12/25/2023]. As a complex of burials and tombstones in a special territory, the cemetery is positioned as one of the traditional types of land use, an obligatory element inherent in the existence of human society. Cemeteries often have special zones where burial is carried out in accordance with certain rituals and traditions. In the case of long-term existence and significant historical and cultural value, we can talk about the cemetery as a necropolis. The upper limit of the dating of the historical necropolis, as a rule, is limited to the first half of the XX century ^[4]. The subject of discussion remains the possibility of classifying more "young" graves belonging to famous people and marked with unique monuments as necropolises.

To date, the Russian Federation has developed a certain regulatory framework regulating the field of funeral business and the maintenance of burials [Federal Law "On Burial and Funeral Business" dated 12.01.1996 No. 8-FZ. URL: https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_8919 / Date of request: 12/24/2023. Federal Law "On sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population" dated 30.03.1999 No. 52-FZ https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_22481 / Date of request: 12/23/2023. Resolution No. 84 of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2011 "On approval of SanPiN 2.1.2882-11 "Hygienic requirements for the placement, arrangement and maintenance of cemeteries, buildings and structures for funeral purposes". URL: https://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/12089475 / Date of access: 12/23/2023]. According to the legislation, burial sites, both created and existing, cannot be demolished, and are transferred only if there is a threat due to natural disasters. When transferring cemeteries and burials, reclamation is carried out, the use of the territory is allowed only 20 years after the transfer, and only for plantings. At the regional level, the functioning of cemeteries is based on the provisions of the Federal Law "On General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation" and regulatory documents of the relevant authorities [Federal Law "On General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation" dated 06.10.2003 N 131-FZ. URL: https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_44571 / Date of access: 12/23/2023]. Despite the fact that local administrations are required to maintain burial sites, legal requirements are often violated. A significant part of regional cemeteries, especially in small towns, is in a depressing state caused by insufficient funding, gaps in the legal sphere and weak public initiative.

Having originated as a purely utilitarian, sanitary and hygienic isolation of the dead from the living, as social progress and the development of human consciousness, cemeteries have turned into places of systematic visits with their own specific culture, becoming a kind of open-air museums, a concentration of architectural and cultural traditions. The significance of the fact of death in the life of human society has led to the development of a funeral culture unique to a particular era, people, region.

The cemetery acts as a valuable historical source. This source is important in the study of socio-political history, the history of art, urban planning and everyday life, the analysis of anthropo- and ethnogenesis ^[5]. Tombstones embody their time, territory, and the attitude of contemporaries and descendants. The analysis of drawings, symbols and texts placed on tombstones makes it possible to study the national memorial culture itself: "from reconstructing the "biography of things" involved in memorials (manufacturing technology, decoration, selection of epitaph texts), to analyzing temporality and local identity" ^[6].

Academician D.S. Likhachev noted that "... the cemetery is an element of the city, a peculiar and very valuable part of urban architecture. Tombstones ... are diverse, individual and always curious in their own way. By reading forgotten names, sometimes searching for famous people buried here, their relatives or just acquaintances, visitors learn to some extent the "wisdom of life". The role of lonely graves or cemeteries in the education of "moral settlement" is very great" ^[7].

Socially and culturally, the significance of the cemetery lies in its direct connection with the eternal problem of life and death, the preservation of ideas about the common past for subsequent generations of people, which forms the collective identity of the nation. A visit to the cemetery means a kind of meeting with people of bygone eras. Awareness of the importance of preserving the memory of previous generations has led to the attribution of a number of cemeteries and individual burials to cultural heritage sites. According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, memorial monuments (including artistic tombstones older than 100 years) they are objects of cultural heritage and are subject to protection and preservation [Federal Law "On objects of Cultural Heritage (historical and Cultural monuments) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation" dated 06/25/2002 No. 73-FZ. URL: https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_37318 / Date of access: 12/23/2023]. However, this applies to a relatively small part of the churchyards, mainly located in the European part of the country. A significant part of the remarkable domestic tombstones is not recognized as a national treasure, is defenseless against human ignorance and is gradually being forgotten, or irretrievably lost. The current situation is such that the historical, cultural, spiritual and even patriotic significance of provincial cemeteries, including those in the Far East, is being questioned, and the culture of visiting such places is practically not developed, which cannot be considered a normal phenomenon. The "alienated attitude towards cemeteries as a kind of warehouses with a limited validity period, which developed in the Soviet period, persists, while, in fact, necropolises are the material embodiment of the spirituality of society, the phenomenon of cultural heritage" [Karavaeva N. V. Socio–ecological aspects of studying necropolises as a phenomenon of cultural heritage: the example of Moscow : abstract of the dissertation of the Candidate of Geographical Sciences / Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. Moscow, 2007, 24 p.].

Awareness of the importance of studying and preserving national cemeteries began to take shape in the imperial period of Russian history. This was especially evident at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, when enthusiastic researchers began to describe necropolises located in the European part of the country, and the results were formalized in the form of relatively numerous publications ^[8]. The description of the tombstones began, initiated by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich. He believed that "the publication of tombstone inscriptions would preserve them forever from extinction and provide useful material for history and, especially, for genealogy" ^[9]. The study of cemeteries was interrupted by the events of 1917. During the Soviet period, the churchyards suffered significant damage. The devastation and disasters of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars, the destruction of religious sites, tombstones of representatives of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, a number of cemeteries located next to religious buildings and public buildings, the lack of care for old graves, led to the loss of a whole layer of national historical memory. Despite the activity of local history associations and individual enthusiasts ("Old Moscow", B. Grekov, N. Ikonnikov, etc.), necropolitics was in decline. It was only in the 1960s that the period of its revival began, associated with the research of the graves of the Great Patriotic War and a number of metropolitan cemeteries. In the 1970s and 1980s, descriptions of cemeteries in a number of large cities appeared. Scientific and practical conferences held every few years since 1990 have played an important role in the development of necropolistics ^[10]. The Russian Scientific Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev (Institute of Heritage) has begun to study necropolises, fundamental books are published, scientific articles are published ^{[11; 12; 13]}. Since the 1990s, full-fledged social movements have been appearing in some regions, studying and protecting cemeteries, including both enthusiasts and specialists in the field of necropolistics, local history, genealogy, etc. Some initiatives are receiving government support, educational activities are expanding, and thematic excursions are being developed. At the beginning of the new millennium, network necropolistics appeared and developed: relevant Internet sites, thematic pages, blogs and public groups on social networks were created and gained popularity. Modern interest in cemeteries, as before, is based on amateur, popular enthusiasm, the role of science remains Tuesday. Local historians of a wide profile: museum, library, archival workers, journalists and teachers, active and caring citizens, determine the ways and directions of necropolitics development.

To date, there is a significant amount of research not only in relation to cemeteries and individual burials in the European part of the country, but also located on the territory of Siberia ^{[14; 15]}. However, in relation to eastern Russia, their list is extremely insignificant. At the same time, there are a number of cemeteries in the southern part of the Far East that have a relatively long history, are of interest to science and are important from the point of view of preserving national memory. Among the published scientific works on Far Eastern cemeteries, one can note the works of V.S. Grishechkin and E.S. Kirsanova, dedicated to the Vladivostok Marine Cemetery, the work of E.A. Shmakov on the church necropolis of Khabarovsk, the publication of A.V. Izhendeev on the obelisks of the cemeteries of Blagoveshchensk and some others ^{[1; 16; 17; 18]}. At the same time, for the scientific study of Far Eastern churchyards and the reconstruction of their history, there is a source base that includes metric books, statistical data, obituaries, documentation of local and regional authorities, maps and plans of settlements, registers of graves, as well as fragments of memoirs, newspaper publications, photo and video materials, online publications describing the current state of certain burials.

Let's characterize some of the Far Eastern churchyards. In the city of Blagoveshchensk, Amur region, two necropolises have been preserved, which arose in the second half of the XIX century. Voznesenskoye cemetery appeared almost simultaneously with the city itself and was originally located outside its borders. It received the name "Voznesenskoye" after the construction in 1896 of the temple of the Grado-Annunciation cemetery Church in the name of the Ascension of the Lord. As the city expanded, it became part of it and today is located in the central part. During the imperial period, the churchyard was fenced, three-arched gates were installed, a church in the name of the Second Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment, a private chapel, separate sections of Jewish and Japanese graves were located on its territory, and the total area reached 27 square kilometers. Most residents of Blagoveshchensk, with the exception of Molokans, rested here. Tombstones of wealthy citizens or materials for them were often ordered from Europe, marble and granite crypts, columns and steles were built. After the death of the Russian Empire, many monuments, especially those bearing the names of nobles, clergy, and representatives of the bourgeoisie, were destroyed, the material was used for household needs, and sometimes as a basis for creating tombstones for other people. In the pre-war years, the southern part of the cemetery was destroyed, where, in particular, a surgeon, one of the pioneers of the use of intravenous anesthesia A.P. Eremich (1876-1920); gold miner and philanthropist P.D. Ballod (1837-1918); satirist F.I. Chudakov (1888-1918); poet P.F. Masyukov (1848-1903); the first Curator of the Roman Catholic churches of the Far East, chaplain K. Radzishevsky (1838-1893); artist, one of the founders of the first art and industrial school in the Far East, P. S. Evstafyev (1880-1958), a student of Ilya Repin ^[19]. Their graves have been lost. In the rest of the churchyard, burials continued until the 1970s, mostly of a family nature. Among the outstanding personalities resting here, one can note the famous local historian G.S. Novikov-Daursky (1881-1961); director, Honored Artist of the RSFSR N.I. Uralov (1899-1964). Judging by the memoirs of the Annunciation, back in the middle of the XX century. unique monuments of the pre-revolutionary period were preserved here. We quote: "We were struck by the grandeur of a three-walled gazebo with a height of human height made of white marble slabs with blue veins, topped with a church crown weighing several hundred kilograms. ... I remember a tall gazebo of rare blacksmithing and with a dome-shaped finish. The walls are finished with metal, resembling climbing vines with thin patterned leaves. Inside, on the ceramic-tiled floor, a cast-iron vase was mounted, in which there was a bouquet of roses made of metal. On the main alley there was a two-meter-high obelisk made of black marble to the founder of the Blagoveshchensk brewery, Kloss. The ashes of the merchant of the 1st guild Boyarintsev rested opposite him. His monument consisted of four colors. Four round columns of polished greenish-gray marble, a base of black marble, a stele of red—gray stone, and the ensemble was completed by a dome in the form of a church crown, which shimmered in the sun with crystals of bright white marble" [Memoirs of V. Grigoriev // Amurskaya Pravda. The Old Mill application. April 24, 1998]. Currently, a number of monuments of the imperial and Soviet periods, executed in stone and metal, are of historical and cultural value, some of which have only partially survived. Until the 2010s, the Voznesenskoye cemetery was actually abandoned and gradually destroyed, and part of the territory was used for the needs of residents and organizations, a highway was laid, a gas station was built. The public activity and initiative of local residents, scientists, and the city's leadership in recent years have led to positive changes in the appearance of this cemetery, but the transformation of the necropolis into a full-fledged historical and cultural object and memorial has not yet occurred.

The Molokan cemetery of Blagoveshchensk has been preserved only partially, within reduced boundaries. Molokans, who were considered sectarians by Orthodox Orthodoxy, migrated to the east of the country during the imperial period, in particular, to the Amur region, thanks to the religious freedom that actually operated here and the economic prospects of the region. By 1880, there were already about seven thousand Molokans in Blagoveshchensk. Most of the graves looked modest, as the funeral ritual of the "spiritual Christians" was relatively simple. They erected modest wooden monuments in the form of bedside tables, if they did not leave stones, they did not put crosses on principle ^[20].

The main array of preserved monuments, both at Voznesensky and Molokan cemeteries, consists of Soviet obelisks made of steel and concrete, with five–pointed stars, less often with crosses, in some cases, with epitaphs. Sometimes symbols and signs of any professions and societies are attached to the obelisks: an anchor, a steering wheel, a sign of the Labor Reserves society ^[17]. Among the preserved tombstones, tombstones in the form of a chopped-off tree, which were installed on the graves of the last people in the family, are of particular interest. They are also found in other regions of the Far East, in particular, at the Vladivostok Marine Cemetery. There are younger cemeteries near Blagoveshchensk, located on the 8th and 17th km of Novotroitskoye highway. The first was opened in the 1970s, the second in the 1990s. Despite their "youth" and relatively short history of existence, they are also places of collective memory, and remarkable tombstones and outstanding personalities buried here should be objects of study and protection.

In Birobidzhan, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the oldest city cemetery is located near the Myasokombinat microdistrict and conditionally consists of two sections. The first one, where the residents of Tikhonskaya station were probably buried even before the formation of the city, is now actually a piece of forest. The second one is known as the "Old Cemetery" and has been preserved for the most part, but is in a neglected state and is being destroyed. Until about the middle of the twentieth century, the first builders of the city and honorary residents, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, were buried there, Jewish burials are mixed with purely secular ones [Chernenko V. The oldest cemetery in Birobidzhan is under threat of extinction // Komsomolskaya Pravda. Khabarovsk. URL: https://www.hab.kp.ru/daily/27127/4212414/?ysclid=ll0ctn31xo676297807 Accessed: 11/07/2023].

The central cemetery of Khabarovsk has been operating since the 1930s, having become notorious for burials of repressed citizens. Famous people such as writer, public figure and hunter V.P. Sysoev (1911-2011); poet P.S. Komarov (1911-1949); Olympic champion V.S. Golovanov (1938-2003); artists M.M. Katsel (1930-2000) and A.Z. Egorov (1922-1967); singer N.I. Kola Beldy (1929-1993); writer and philosopher V.N. Ivanov (1888-1971); scientist-parasitologist A.V. Maslov (1906-1971) and others. Currently, the churchyard has been landscaped, work is underway to digitize burials and compile an interactive map of the cemetery [Zagorskaya E. A new history of the old cemetery: churchyards will be digitized in Khabarovsk // Habinfo – Khabarovsk online magazine. URL: https://habinfo.ru/tsentralnoe-kladbische/?ysclid=ll0drrniy3483581810 Accessed: 12/07/2023]. A number of graves have been registered by the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments. Currently, the main cemetery in Khabarovsk is considered to be "Matveevskoye". People who left relatively recently, including those who had special services to the country and the people, rest here. For example, the writer-front-line soldier Yu.I. Kvyatkovsky (1926-2013). In addition to the Central and Matveevsky, Khabarovsk had several old cemeteries, including church cemeteries, most of which were destroyed. Preserved, for example, in the area of the Amur Bridge, are in poor condition. The last burials here date back to the 1940s and 1950s, a significant part of the churchyard was demolished during the reconstruction of the bridge, and the rest is an unsettled space. The grave of the talented artist M.E. Sergienko (1927-1955) is located here.

In Vladivostok, a number of old cemeteries were irretrievably lost in the first decades of Soviet power. This applies to the Assumption and Pokrovsky churchyards. Brick, marble, and metal elements were used in the construction and repair of residential and industrial buildings. Some churchyards disappeared in the post-war period, for example, the Old Egershelskoe. It was there, in 1930, that the outstanding traveler V.K. Arsenyev (1872-1930) was originally buried. Cemeteries such as the New Egersheldskoye and Soldatskoye have been neglected and are gradually being destroyed. The most famous of the surviving ones is the Vladivostok Marine Cemetery, opened in 1903. The name of the cemetery was not formed immediately, it was also called cholera, fraternal, military, closed ^[1]. The naval cemetery includes burials of three historical eras, including participants in the Civil War (the so-called "reds", "whites" and interventionists (Czechs, Japanese, British, Canadians, French) and the military (from sailors of the Russian-Japanese War to fighters who died in the area of the SVO). The first were the graves of sailors of the cruisers "Russia" and "Askold", and soldiers of the 4th East Siberian Regiment, which have not survived to our time. In 1911, the remains of the sailors of the Varyag cruiser brought from Korea were reburied here, and the memorial created now belongs to monuments of federal significance. Since 1912, burials of civilians have also begun on the territory of the cemetery. A church, a chapel, and a community house of the women's monastic community were built. Like all old cemeteries, Morskoye did not escape the persecution of the first decades of the existence of Soviet power. The wave of anti-religious propaganda radically changed people's attitude not only to religion, but also to burial sites. Religious buildings were destroyed, the women's community was dissolved, and a number of graves were destroyed ^[1]. In 1954, the graves of Soviet soldiers who fell during the conflict on the CER in 1929 near Mishan-Fu and at Lake Khasan in 1938, as well as the ashes of researcher V.K. Arsenyev (1872-1930), were moved here. These objects are monuments of historical and cultural heritage of federal significance. In the 1980s, Rear Admiral E.S. Burachek (1836-1911) and marine explorer F.S. Burachek were reburied here. Huck (1836-1904); buried rector of the Lutheran Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Vladivostok, dean of Lutheran parishes of the Far East and pastor Carl August Rumpeter (1849-1912), the world's first female long-distance sailing captain A.I. Shchetinina (1908-1999), organizer of the fishing industry in the region Sh.G. Nadibaidze (1907-1964), historian and academician A.I. Krushanov (1921-1991); memorials were created dedicated to the lost ships and their crews (submarine S-178, motor ships Baskunchak, Komsomolets Nakhodki, Bolsheretsk, Tiksi). The oldest of the preserved graves are stone tombstones in the form of a tree with chopped off branches, a broken column, a cross on Golgotha (only the base has been preserved), many burials of the Soviet period are similar in appearance and material to tombstones found in churchyards of other Far Eastern cities, a number of them are decorated based on the professional activity of the deceased, the marine predominates subject matter. The central cemetery of Vladivostok appeared in the 1920s and was actively used until its closure in the 1970s. Geologist and paleontologist D.F. Maslennikov (1904-1953), the first heroine mother of Vladivostok R.A. Polutis (1892-1958), Rear Admiral K.O. rests here. Osipov (1898-1945), Korean socialist politician Lee Dong-hwi (1873-1935) and other famous personalities. The current state of this churchyard leaves much to be desired. The Vladivostok Forest Cemetery is younger and used up to the present time. Olympic champion S.M. Oshchepkov (1934-2012), Hero of the Soviet Union M.G. Malik (1911-1980), founder of the Institute of Oceanography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences N. Vasilkov, architect Yu.A. Trautman (1909-1986), People's Artist of the RSFSR V.Ya. Myalk (1925-1996), zoologist G.F. Bromley (1906-1982) are buried here.

Thus, national cemeteries act as complex monuments with historical value, forming and preserving the collective memory of the people. The earliest existing cemeteries in the southern part of the Far East include burials from three historical eras. The monuments of the imperial period, mainly the beginning of the XX century, have been preserved in small numbers and mainly in stone. Tombstones with metal elements are present in isolated cases. Due to the lack of systematic care and non-recognition, with rare exceptions, by the state as objects of cultural heritage, this group of monuments is gradually disappearing. A large array consists of tombstones of the Soviet period, made of metal, often of a standard sample. The post-war period is characterized by a large number of pyramids and obelisks with red stars, monuments and fences with symbols of enterprises, organizations, specific professions, a variety of epitaphs, with a minimum number of references to religion. The history of individual churchyards, for example, the Marine Cemetery in Vladivostok, is so rich and multifaceted that it deserves independent study. The degree of preservation of tombstones varies and is associated with a whole range of factors: climatic, material, temporary and others. The existing cemeteries of the Far Eastern settlements are in better condition than the old, closed churchyards. The latter demonstrate the process of transformation from places of memory into places of oblivion, which are doomed to disappear without regular care. The reality is that the territory of a number of churchyards, especially those currently unused, is negatively affected by expanding settlements, up to the immediate vicinity of residential or industrial buildings and burial sites. In addition, old cemeteries often suffer from vandalism and serve as a refuge for antisocial elements. In the absence of control and proper protection, this accelerates the process of loss of these objects, forms a negative attitude towards memorable places, which cannot be perceived positively. The study of Far Eastern cemeteries remains sketchy and unsystematic, although it is a promising area of regional historical science that can significantly supplement and enrich it with new data, generalizations and meanings. Scientific research should go in parallel with public activities to preserve existing churchyards, restore tombstones and perpetuate the memory of people who have left a significant mark on the life of the region and the country as a whole.