Lithuania has exhumed the remains of at least 48 Soviet soldiers from a burial site beside the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Šiauliai, acting under a national law that requires the removal of public symbols tied to totalitarian regimes.
The move follows a 2024 ruling by Lithuania’s Desovietisation Commission, which found that the centrally located burial site violated the country’s ban on promoting totalitarian and authoritarian ideologies.
The commission also determined that the site contributed to the spread of the Soviet-era Great Patriotic War narrative and noted that the remains had been moved there from other locations.
Lithuania enacted the desovietisation law in May 2023, requiring such symbols to be cleared from public spaces.
Commission ruling and the law that ordered the exhumation
Archaeologist Rokas Kraniauskas, who heads the firm Arksaika and led the excavation, said the team believes it recovered all the remains present at the site. He identified 48 individuals but said the figure could reach 49 if burned remains in one grave are found to belong to two different people. Anthropological analysis will determine the final count.
At least 48 Soviet soldiers' remains were recovered in Lithuania following a commission ruling that the Šiauliai burial site violated a ban on totalitarian symbols. pic.twitter.com/UTPQeEtr7W
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) April 16, 2026
The excavation wrapped up on Tuesday, though the team plans additional checks for any missed graves. Kraniauskas said four burial pits contained no remains, most likely because Soviet-era records were inaccurate.
Earlier sources had estimated that between 52 and 53 Red Army soldiers killed in World War II were buried at the site.
Artifacts found alongside Soviet soldiers’ remains in Lithuania
The recovered material included fragments of military uniforms, among them shoulder boards, buttons, belts and footwear, along with coins. One grave held a cloth bag containing badly degraded ammunition for a Mosin-Nagant carbine.
Metal detector scans revealed 18th-century coins of Prussian, Swedish, and Lithuanian origin, suggesting the area had seen earlier settlements. Researchers also noted signs of trauma on the remains, including bone fractures and evidence of amputations.
The recovered remains are now stored at premises arranged by the Šiauliai municipality. Anthropologists will study the sex, approximate age, and possible injuries of each person.
Work at the cathedral site is ongoing. Archaeologists have also uncovered the foundations and basement of an unidentified structure, thought to have been demolished or buried sometime around the wartime period.
The remains will be reburied at a designated World War II site near Ginkūnai cemetery.
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