Myths about this or that historical event, once rooted in the mass consciousness, sit there firmly. The February Revolution is by no means an exception. Millions of people still believe that February revolution was spontaneous, peaceful and almost bloodless.
One example of such a mindless "A" response:
- Why was the February Revolution bloodless?
- The February revolution, almost bloodless, was the most civilized of all the previous ones (almost velvet) - and the Russians were the pioneers here. If everything stopped there, they would live like Christ in the bosom. Similar revolutions in other countries led to remarkable results (Sweden for example). But then the Bolsheviks came to power in our country - and they spoiled everything with their totalitarian thinking and terror, which first split the country, and then drove it into a humanitarian hell ... http://znanija.com/task/3307691

About the victims of revolutionary violence in the February-March days of 1917 ...

Often, the murders of representatives of the "old regime" were accompanied by abuse of their bodies: mutilated, they lay around the city, and often their stomachs were cut open, burned at the stake, and thrown into the garbage heaps. .

On March 5/18, 1917, the newspapers published the words of A.F. Kerensky, which immediately became “historical” - the February Revolution that had taken place was solemnly declared “bloodless”. Thus, Kerensky, who did not want to be the “Marat of the Russian Revolution,” hammered a propaganda myth into the public consciousness: “Russian revolutionary Easter,” unlike the Great French Revolution, passed peacefully and without violence. These words were immediately picked up by other creators of February and became almost an axiom.

However, in reality, everything was different. Like any other uprising, the February Revolution was not without violence, and therefore blood. And there was a lot of it spilled during the first week of revolutionary events ...

The workers' strikes that engulfed Petrograd led to clashes with the police, Cossacks and soldiers, which caused the appearance of the first victims of the revolution on both sides by February 26. And soon, through the efforts of the side that won the revolution, searches, robberies and murders began in Petrograd, which then spread to other cities of the Russian Empire.

Let us recall only some of the most striking episodes of the “bloodless revolution”. On the night of February 27, non-commissioned officer T.I. . “It seems that already on the 27th, two artillery generals who worked at the Obukhov plant were killed,” Count E.P. Bennigsen noted. “Officers were killed, and members of the Duma continuously traveled around the barracks, trying in vain to calm the soldiers,” testifies State Duma deputy V.V. Shulgin.

After the infamous order of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies No. 1 ("On the Democratization of the Army"), which followed on March 1, 1917, the number of reprisals against officers only increased. Officers of the army and navy, accused of "adherence to the old order", were subjected to insults, beatings, and sometimes martyrdom. “... Unrest began in the military units, the cadets arrested the commander of the troops, the old man A.G. Sandetsky, who was insulted in every possible way, beaten on the cheeks, etc., in one of the units, the soldiers stripped the commander naked and put him in a snowdrift. ..,” recalled the Kholmsky governor L.M. Savelov, who found himself in Kazan in early March 1917.

Events were even more tragic in the Baltic Fleet. Already on February 28, the commander of the Aurora cruiser, Captain 1st Rank M.I. Nikolsky, who was trying to call the sailors to order, was killed. On the same day, the commander of the 2nd Baltic naval crew, Major General A.K. Girs and his assistant, Colonel A.F. Pavlov, who were arrested the day before, were killed. Then the bloody wave reached the bases of the Baltic Fleet - Kronstadt and Helsingfors. In Kronstadt, a rebellious crowd killed the chief commander of the Kronstadt port, the hero of Port Arthur, Admiral R.N. Viren and the chief of staff of the Kronstadt port, Rear Admiral A.G. Butakov. On March 3, the commander of the 2nd brigade of battleships, Rear Admiral A.K. Nebolsin, was killed, and the next day, the same fate befell the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice Admiral A.I. Nepenin. And it's far from full list: in the Navy, up to 100 people became victims of the events of March 1-4, 1917. And that's including only the dead! Over 600 naval officers were arrested. Many of them would later become victims of the "Red Terror".

As the captain of the 2nd rank G.K. Graf recalled, naval officers “they killed when they met on the street or burst into their apartments and places of service, inhumanly mocking them in the last minutes. But the crowd of killer animals was not content with this either: it mutilated their corpses and did not let their unfortunate relatives, witnesses of these horrors, approach them.. Captain 1st rank B.P. Dudorov, the organizer of aviation in the Baltic, in a letter to Admiral A.V. Kolchak dated March 10, 1917, wrote about the events in Kronstadt: “More than 100 officers were killed there... On the square in front of the cathedral, they say, there were boxes in which bodies were dumped, and they say that when one box was not full, someone shouted: “There is room for two more, catch someone.” anything." They caught a passing warrant officer and immediately killed him and threw him into a box. The officers have all been arrested."

But in the most acute form the revolution took place in the capital of the Russian Empire - in Petrograd, where in the February-March days at least 1.5 thousand people were killed or injured. The first victims of the distraught crowd were law enforcement officers and members of their families, officers, and prominent monarchist officials. After a severe beating, with a broken leg, his head, 70-year-old General I.D. Volkov, was dragged out of the building of the Petrograd provincial gendarme department and later shot dead. On the night of February 28, after State Duma an order was received to arrest “the entire police”, in Petrograd there was a widespread beating of policemen, of whom, according to some reports, almost half died.

Crazed citizens, including women and teenagers, succeeded in beating law enforcement officers. So, a 16-17-year-old young barber enthusiastically said: “I myself killed two (...) And I didn’t shoot at random, but darted!” The writer M.M. Prishvin wrote in those days in his diary: “Two women walk with pokers, lead balls on the pokers - to finish off the bailiffs”. And Baron N.E. Wrangel recalled: “In the courtyard of our house lived a police officer; the crowd did not find his house, only his wife; she was killed, and by the way, two of her guys. Smaller pectoral - with a blow of the heel to the crown ". Gendarmes and policemen were beaten to death with rifle butts, their eyes were gouged out, they were stabbed with bayonets, shot, tied with ropes to cars and torn to pieces, drowned in the Neva, thrown from the roofs of houses ... “Those atrocities,” wrote General K.I. Globachev, “that were committed by the rebellious mob in the February days in relation to the ranks of the police, the corps of gendarmes and even combat officers, defy description. They are in no way inferior to what the Bolsheviks did on their victims in their Chests..

Speaking about the behavior in the February-March days of police officers and police officers, the well-known monarchist Colonel F.V. Vinberg wrote that they constituted "flesh from flesh and blood from the blood of that people, on behalf of which they were declared enemies and adversaries". “Soldiers and workers scoured the whole city, looking for the ill-fated policemen and policemen, expressed stormy delight, having found a new victim to quench their thirst for innocent blood, and there was no bullying, mockery, insults and tortures that vile animals did not try on their defenseless victims, Winberg recalled. - The masses of the Petersburg population actively helped these beasts: boys, frenzied revolutionary shrews, various "bourgeois"-looking young people ran hopping around each hunting group of murderers and, to please the "gentlemen comrades", indicated to them where and in what direction to look last cops in hiding".

Intoxicated with “freedom”, the crowd committed terrible crimes these days. According to the writer V.B. Shklovsky, a participant in the February atrocities, people drugged by revolutionary "They arranged ritual burnings of the 'enemies of the people' who were identified together by the crowd - they were tied to iron beds, which were put on a fire!"

Officials also became victims of revolutionary violence. Already on February 28, in Petrograd, after checking documents by soldiers, collegiate adviser L.K. was wounded by a shot, and then finished off with bayonets. von Bock for being a "damned German". The life of the last Tver governor N. G. Byunting was tragically cut short on March 2 after the bullying of the man shot dead in front of the crowd, which rushed furiously to trample his body with their feet. In the same Tver, on March 16, General Chekhovsky was stoned to death by a crowd, whom the soldiers led to the guardhouse.

Often, the murders of representatives of the "old regime" were accompanied by abuse of their bodies: mutilated, they lay around the city, and often their stomachs were cut open, burned at the stake, and thrown into the garbage heaps. After Count G.E. Shtakelberg and Senator A.V. Czartorysky were killed in Petrograd, the revolutionaries cut off their heads in front of the public.

Extralegal arrests of prominent tsarist dignitaries, which began to be carried out even before the Emperor's abdication from the throne on February 27-28, became another component of revolutionary violence. First of all, monarchist dignitaries I.G. Shcheglovitov, N.A. Maklakov, N.A. Dobrovolsky, B.V. Shtyurmer, G.E. Goremykin, A.D. Protopopov, G.G. Chaplinsky and others, most of whom were later shot by the Bolsheviks. Didn't escape arrest Metropolitan of Petrograd Pitirim (Oknov), whom drunken soldiers pulled out of the metropolitan chambers of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

But, as a rule, no obituaries for the victims of the revolution were published in the press. The myth of the “great and bloodless” was hammered into the mass consciousness, and revolutionary newspapers, choking with delight, reported on the “humanity” of the revolution, carried out “surprisingly quickly and amazingly skillfully”, without “unnecessary sacrifices” and “unnecessary noise” ...

Prepared Andrey Ivanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

1917. February revolution. Chronicle of events in six parts (Part IV) 23 March. National funeral for victims of freedom fighters

Continuation.

1917. Chronicle of the February Revolution. Part 1

1917. Chronicle of the February Revolution. Part 2

On March 5, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies decided to appoint a funeral for March 10. This day was declared "the day of remembrance of the victims of the Revolution and the national holiday of the Great Russian Revolution for all time." It was ordered to organize a funeral as "national and civil" without church rite. A church memorial service could be performed by the relatives of the dead "according to their conviction."

Priests of military temples on this day were supposed to perform funeral services in temples.

Funeral service for those who died during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution

The entire population of the capital, as well as the entire population of the Petrograd garrison, was called upon to participate in the funeral of the victims of the revolution. However, on March 10, the funeral did not take place and the ceremony was postponed more than once, until, finally, the final date was set - March 23, 1917.

Discussions flared up over the choice of burial site. Initially, the majority of delegates spoke in favor of Palace Square, but objections arose. The organizers were worried about the soil water under the Palace Square, they feared that the mass graves would violate the integrity of the famous architectural ensemble of the square. They were called Kazan Cathedral, Znamenskaya Square.

The Petrograd Soviet decided to bury the victims of the revolution on the Field of Mars. It was planned to place the crypt under a huge column, next to erect “according to all the rules of science, technology and art” a building for the Russian parliament, which was to become the center of government for all of Russia. The grandiose entrance to the parliament building, facing the Neva, was supposed to be decorated with statues of prominent figures of the revolution.

Funeral procession during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on one of the streets of the city.

A special commission created by the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies acted as the organizer of the funeral. Parts of the garrison were ordered to participate in the ceremony, the allocation of special units with orchestras. On the day of the funeral in the city, it was planned to stop the work of industrial and commercial enterprises, and tram traffic was stopped.

The path and time of the funeral processions from each district of Petrograd to the Field of Mars was determined. The column organization scheme is certified by the signature of the commander-in-chief of the troops, Lieutenant General L.G. Kornilov.

Funeral procession on Nevsky Prospekt during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution.

The Petrogradsky Listok newspaper wrote about this event: “... processions with the coffins of the victims, with waving flags, with an innumerable crowd of people, are moving slowly from all parts of the city. Slowly, solemnly, the consonant singing of a thousand voices is heard in the air: “You fell a victim in the fatal struggle ...”.

The procession, which began at 9 a.m. 30 min. ended well after midnight. At least 800 thousand people passed by the mass graves on the Field of Mars. The presence of members of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, the Provisional Government, and deputies of the Petrograd Soviet emphasized the special, national character of the event. Military and Naval Minister A.I. Guchkov, accompanied by the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General L.G. Kornilov, arrived at the Field of Mars at 10 o'clock. The minister knelt before the graves and crossed himself.

Reportage filming of the funeral of the victims of the revolution covers all stages of the mourning ceremony: the procession of columns from different districts of Petrograd with the coffins of the dead, the situation on the streets of the city, the rally on the Field of Mars, the burial of the victims, etc. Among them: 10 photographic documents taken by the famous photographer Petr Otsupa: procession on Nevsky Prospekt”, “Funeral procession in the Vyborg region”, “Lowering the coffin into the grave during the funeral of the victims February Revolution March 23, 1917”, “Church memorial service on the Field of Mars”, “Police from student representatives”, “Funeral columns on the Field of Mars”.

Exploring the information of photographic documents, you can see a huge number of people of various social groups who took part in the funeral ceremony. These are soldiers and officers, workers, intellectuals, students.

The event was planned in advance and was well prepared. The photographs depict a large number of flags and banners with slogans that are written correctly without spelling and stylistic errors, in even letters. Columns of funeral processions with flags and banners are moving towards the Champ de Mars in perfect order.

Funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on the Field of Mars

In one of the pictures you can see: at the head of the columns there are standard-bearers or those who carry a banner with slogans. Next march the military units of the Petrograd garrison with an orchestra. Endless columns of demonstrators move through the streets of Petrograd, soldiers carry coffins with bodies fallen heroes, as evidenced by the footage.

On the Field of Mars

Among the representatives of the mourning ceremony, photographic documents depicted delegations of students from the Academy of Arts, Shlisselburg residents, workers of the 1st Russian X-ray tube plant, soldiers of the auto division. Order on the streets of the city is monitored by the military on horseback. On both sides of the street, the civilian population, including women. Pushing back the crowd, holding hands, the soldiers stand in a cordon, ensuring the immediate advancement of the funeral procession. In one of the photographs - the police from the representatives of the students. Mourning columns accompany the coffins with the dead to the Field of Mars, where a large mass grave was dug. Photographers recorded how soldiers dig frozen ground on the eve of the mourning event - March 22.

Photographic documents capture the picture of events taking place directly on the Field of Mars: a huge crowd of people during a rally, general form Field of Mars during the ceremony, a large number of flags and banners with slogans: "Immortal memory of the fallen freedom fighters", " Everlasting memory freedom fighters”, “The living - the fallen” and others. The photographs show that despite the mass gathering of people, there is no crowd on the Champ de Mars, nothing prevents the march of the mourning columns.

In written sources, it is recorded that, according to the decision of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, funerals should take place without religious rites. However, the photographs show the performance of a religious ceremony on the Field of Mars: three clergy perform a funeral service over the coffin of the deceased.

Next to the coffin is a large cross with a crucifix, banners. Soldiers, officers, men and women take part in this ceremony. Men without hats, with bowed heads. Perhaps this memorial service was held at the initiative of the relatives of the victims. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out how many people were buried, only one coffin is visible on photographic documents. It is noteworthy that the majority of those participating in the memorial service - simple people, which we can judge by clothes. So, if we compare the clothes of women during a memorial service with the clothes of women participating in an official burial, we will see that the former are dressed in scarves and shapeless coats, the latter are more elegant, they wear hats and coats with fur collars.

On several photographic documents depicting the burial, there are voluminous wooden barrels in the frame in in large numbers. It was not possible to find out what they were for, what was in them. Perhaps they contained cement for pouring graves, or water for mortar. In some photographs, we see wooden flooring and special holes into which coffins are lowered. It can be assumed that the flooring was made for the convenience of lowering the coffin into the grave. Six people (three on each side) on ropes lower the coffin into the grave through a hole in the wooden flooring on ropes.

Below, several people receive the coffins and stack them in two rows. Some of the coffins are decorated with bouquets of flowers, each with a note with the name of the deceased. After the funeral, the mass grave was poured with cement, which is also reflected in the documents.

PHOTO prohibited from publishing by the copyright holder

Photo documents confirm the fact that members of the Provisional Government attended the funeral of the victims of the revolution. In the pictures: Minister of War and Marine A.I. Guchkov, Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, Minister of Foreign Affairs P.N. Milyukov, member of the Provisional Committee, Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod V.N. Lvov and others.

When studying film documents dedicated to the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution in Petrograd 1917, 12 items were identified. hr., containing filming of such operators as F.K. Verigo-Dorovsky, M.I. Bystritsky (March 22), Bulla, who was a photojournalist in his main specialty, as well as shootings made by employees of the Skobelev Committee and the Pate Brothers company.

Filming of preparations for the funeral ceremony has been preserved: “On the eve of the funeral. Preparation of graves on the Champ de Mars on March 22, 1917. M.I. Bystritsky Petrograd. On the screen you can observe groups of people - soldiers, civilians belonging to different strata of society, which can be determined by clothing. They block the passage to the Champ de Mars, where the frozen earth is exploding and graves are being dug. In their hands they have a large poster with the inscription "The passage is closed, they are blowing up the earth for graves." It is captured how the soldiers dig graves, the walls are strengthened with boards. On top of the grave, a wooden flooring is made in the form of a bridge. Large barrels lie in a row, the purpose of which could not be clarified. An interesting plot: “The chapel of the Obukhov hospital. Sealing coffins”: there are two coffins, soldering devices for sealing coffins are heated. The quality of this scene is poor as it was shot in the dark.

The study made it possible to eliminate some disagreements between scientists regarding the construction of graves on the Field of Mars. B. Kolonitsky, for example, believed that four large graves had been dug. However, audiovisual documents confirm the opinion of those who believed that one large mass grave was dug in the form of the letter "L".

Members of the Provisional Government at the mass grave on the Field of Mars

In the film document of the Skobelev Committee "National Funeral of the Heroes and Victims of the Great Russian Revolution on the Field of Mars in Petrograd 1917" (director of filming G.M. Boltyansky, cameramen A. Dorn, I. Kobozev, P. Novitsky) the inscription at the beginning of the film says that "up to one and a half million people participated in the procession." In written sources, there are different numbers of those who took part in the mourning ceremony, the most common figure is 800 thousand people, some sources talk about a million participants in the demonstration.

On April 5, 1917 (March 23, old style), the victims of the February Revolution were buried on the Field of Mars in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).

The organizer of the funeral was the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which decided to appoint the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on March 23 (March 10, old style). This day was declared "a day of remembrance of the victims of the Revolution and a national holiday of the Great Russian Revolution for all time."

The funeral on April 5 was not only a Petrograd, but also an all-Russian event. In Kronstadt on this day, a memorial service was held for the victims of the revolution. Up to 50 thousand people participated in the funeral procession here. In other cities of Russia, a new wave of "Freedom Holidays" took place. In Moscow, some enterprises did not work, rallies were held in factories and offices; memorial services were performed in some institutions. Demonstrations dedicated to the memory of "freedom fighters" were held in Kyiv, Odessa, Samara, Riga, Simbirsk. Often, the burial places of the victims of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 became the centers of these demonstrations.

Later, the burials of participants in the October Revolution and the Civil War were added to the victims of the February Revolution, which began with the solemn funeral of V. Volodarsky in June 1918.

In 1918-1940 the Field of Mars was called the Square of the Victims of the Revolution.

In 1919, a monument to the fighters of the revolution was opened on the Field of Mars, designed by the architect Lev Rudnev. The author of the inscriptions on the monument was the first Soviet People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

On March 5, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies decided to appoint a funeral for March 10. This day was declared "the day of remembrance of the victims of the Revolution and the national holiday of the Great Russian Revolution for all time." It was ordered to organize a funeral as "national and civil" without a church rite. A church memorial service could be performed by the relatives of the dead "according to their conviction."

Priests of military temples on this day were supposed to perform funeral services in temples.
Funeral service for those who died during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution

The entire population of the capital, as well as the entire population of the Petrograd garrison, was called upon to participate in the funeral of the victims of the revolution. However, on March 10, the funeral did not take place and the ceremony was postponed more than once, until, finally, the final date was set - March 23, 1917.

Discussions flared up over the choice of burial site. Initially, the majority of delegates spoke in favor of Palace Square, but objections arose. The organizers were worried about the soil water under the Palace Square, they feared that the mass graves would violate the integrity of the famous architectural ensemble of the square. They were called Kazan Cathedral, Znamenskaya Square.

The Petrograd Soviet decided to bury the victims of the revolution on the Field of Mars. It was planned to place the crypt under a huge column, next to erect “according to all the rules of science, technology and art” a building for the Russian parliament, which was to become the center of government for all of Russia. The grandiose entrance to the parliament building, facing the Neva, was supposed to be decorated with statues of prominent figures of the revolution.
Funeral procession during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on one of the streets of the city.

A special commission created by the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies acted as the organizer of the funeral. Parts of the garrison were ordered to participate in the ceremony, the allocation of special units with orchestras. On the day of the funeral in the city, it was planned to stop the work of industrial and commercial enterprises, and tram traffic was stopped.

The path and time of the funeral processions from each district of Petrograd to the Field of Mars was determined. The column organization scheme is certified by the signature of the commander-in-chief of the troops, Lieutenant General L.G. Kornilov.
Funeral procession on Nevsky Prospekt during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution.

The Petrogradsky Listok newspaper wrote about this event: “... processions with the coffins of the victims, with waving flags, with an innumerable crowd of people, are moving slowly from all parts of the city. Slowly, solemnly, the consonant singing of a thousand voices is heard in the air: “You fell a victim in the fatal struggle ...”.

The procession, which began at 9 a.m. 30 min. ended well after midnight. At least 800 thousand people passed by the mass graves on the Field of Mars. The presence of members of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, the Provisional Government, and deputies of the Petrograd Soviet emphasized the special, national character of the event. Military and Naval Minister A.I. Guchkov, accompanied by the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General L.G. Kornilov, arrived at the Field of Mars at 10 o'clock. The minister knelt before the graves and crossed himself.

Reportage filming of the funeral of the victims of the revolution covers all stages of the mourning ceremony: the procession of columns from different districts of Petrograd with the coffins of the dead, the situation on the streets of the city, the rally on the Field of Mars, the burial of the victims, etc. Among them: 10 photographic documents taken by the famous photographer Petr Otsupa: procession on Nevsky Prospekt”, “Funeral procession in the Vyborg region”, “Lowering the coffin into the grave during the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on March 23, 1917”, “Church memorial service on the Field of Mars”, “Police from student representatives”, “Funeral columns on Field of Mars.

Examining the information of photographic documents, one can see a huge number of people of various social groups who took part in the mourning ceremony. These are soldiers and officers, workers, intellectuals, students.

The event was planned in advance and was well prepared. The photographs depict a large number of flags and banners with slogans that are written correctly without spelling and stylistic errors, in even letters. Columns of funeral processions with flags and banners are moving towards the Champ de Mars in perfect order.
Funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on the Field of Mars

In one of the pictures you can see: at the head of the columns there are standard-bearers or those who carry a banner with slogans. Next march the military units of the Petrograd garrison with an orchestra. Endless columns of demonstrators are moving along the streets of Petrograd, soldiers are carrying coffins with the bodies of dead heroes, as evidenced by reportage footage.
On the Field of Mars

Among the representatives of the mourning ceremony, photographic documents depicted delegations of students from the Academy of Arts, Shlisselburg residents, workers of the 1st Russian X-ray tube plant, soldiers of the auto division. Order on the streets of the city is monitored by the military on horseback. On both sides of the street, the civilian population, including women. Pushing back the crowd, holding hands, the soldiers stand in a cordon, ensuring the immediate advancement of the funeral procession. In one of the photographs - the police from the representatives of the students. Mourning columns accompany the coffins with the dead to the Field of Mars, where a large mass grave was dug. Photographers recorded how soldiers dig frozen ground on the eve of the mourning event - March 22.

Photo documents capture a picture of the events taking place directly on the Champ de Mars: a huge crowd of people during the rally, a general view of the Champ de Mars during the ceremony, a large number of flags and banners with slogans: "Immortal memory of the fallen freedom fighters", "Eternal memory of the freedom fighters" , "Alive - to the fallen", etc. Groups of cordon, guard of honor of military and civilians at the coffins of the dead. The photographs show that despite the mass gathering of people, there is no crowd on the Champ de Mars, nothing prevents the march of the mourning columns.

In written sources, it is recorded that, according to the decision of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, funerals should take place without religious rites. However, the photographs show the performance of a religious ceremony on the Field of Mars: three clergy perform a funeral service over the coffin of the deceased.

Next to the coffin is a large cross with a crucifix, banners. Soldiers, officers, men and women take part in this ceremony. Men without hats, with bowed heads. Perhaps this memorial service was held at the initiative of the relatives of the victims. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out how many people were buried, only one coffin is visible on photographic documents. It is noteworthy that the majority of those participating in the memorial service are ordinary people, as we can judge by their clothes. So, if we compare the clothes of women during a memorial service with the clothes of women participating in an official burial, we will see that the former are dressed in scarves and shapeless coats, the latter are more elegant, they wear hats and coats with fur collars.

On several photographic documents depicting the burial, there are a large number of voluminous wooden barrels in the frame. It was not possible to find out what they were for, what was in them. Perhaps they contained cement for pouring graves, or water for mortar. In some photographs, we see wooden flooring and special holes into which coffins are lowered. It can be assumed that the flooring was made for the convenience of lowering the coffin into the grave. Six people (three on each side) on ropes lower the coffin into the grave through a hole in the wooden flooring on ropes.

Below, several people receive the coffins and stack them in two rows. Some of the coffins are decorated with bouquets of flowers, each with a note with the name of the deceased. After the funeral, the mass grave was poured with cement, which is also reflected in the documents.

Photo documents confirm the fact that members of the Provisional Government attended the funeral of the victims of the revolution. In the pictures: Minister of War and Marine A.I. Guchkov, Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, Minister of Foreign Affairs P.N. Milyukov, member of the Provisional Committee, Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod V.N. Lvov and others.

When studying film documents dedicated to the funeral of the victims of the February Revolution in Petrograd 1917, 12 items were identified. hr., containing filming of such operators as F.K. Verigo-Dorovsky, M.I. Bystritsky (March 22), Bulla, who was a photojournalist in his main specialty, as well as shootings made by employees of the Skobelev Committee and the Pate Brothers company.

Filming of preparations for the funeral ceremony has been preserved: “On the eve of the funeral. Preparation of graves on the Champ de Mars on March 22, 1917. M.I. Bystritsky Petrograd. Groups of people can be observed on the screen - soldiers, civilians belonging to different strata of society, which can be determined by clothing. They block the passage to the Champ de Mars, where the frozen earth is exploding and graves are being dug. In their hands they have a large poster with the inscription "The passage is closed, they are blowing up the earth for graves." It is captured how the soldiers dig graves, the walls are strengthened with boards. On top of the grave, a wooden flooring is made in the form of a bridge. Large barrels lie in a row, the purpose of which could not be clarified. An interesting plot: “The chapel of the Obukhov hospital. Sealing coffins”: there are two coffins, soldering devices for sealing coffins are heated. The quality of this scene is poor as it was shot in the dark.

The study made it possible to eliminate some disagreements between scientists regarding the construction of graves on the Field of Mars. B. Kolonitsky, for example, believed that four large graves had been dug. However, audiovisual documents confirm the opinion of those who believed that one large mass grave was dug in the form of the letter "L".
Members of the Provisional Government at the mass grave on the Field of Mars

In the film document of the Skobelev Committee "National Funeral of the Heroes and Victims of the Great Russian Revolution on the Field of Mars in Petrograd 1917" (director of filming G.M. Boltyansky, cameramen A. Dorn, I. Kobozev, P. Novitsky) the inscription at the beginning of the film says that "up to one and a half million people participated in the procession." In written sources, there are different numbers of those who took part in the mourning ceremony, the most common figure is 800 thousand people, some sources talk about a million participants in the demonstration.