Memorial “Black Fence”, part of the Memorial to the Revolutionary, Military and Labour Glory of Railway Workers

Location: Bendery (Bender), Transnistria

Completed: 1969

Sculptors: N. Zorin and V. Petrov

Genre: Soviet monument, former USSR

In late 1917, early 1918 the Kingdom of Romania sent troops into Russian-occupied Bendery. Despite dogged resistance from local Bolshevik fighters, many of whom were railwaymen, the city was taken by the Romanians on 7th February 1918. Reprisals were carried out that day, including the mass shooting of 500 opposition fighters along a fence near the locomotive depot. Of those massacred, 150 were railway workers and the memorial “Black Fence” represents the unbroken spirit and courage of the executed railwaymen. “Black Fence” was erected in 1969 but was incorporated into the Memorial to the Revolutionary, Military and Labour Glory of Railway Workers in 1977, which also consists of the Museum Complex of the Glory of Railway Workers and the Monument to the Railway Workers.

Memorial "Black Fence" (Memorial to the Revolutionary, Military and Labour Glory of Railway Workers in Bendery (Bender), Transnistria | Soviet monument | former USSR

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