The remains of Red Army commander Nikolai Shchors were solemnly reburied on July 10, 1949, at the Kuibyshev City Cemetery, three decades after his initial funeral. The event, captured in a photograph from the Samara Regional State Archive of Socio-Political History, marked a significant moment in the contested narrative surrounding the Civil War hero’s life and death.

The reburial brought renewed attention to the circumstances of Shchors’ death in 1919. Initial reports attributed his demise to enemy machine-gun fire during the defense of the Korosten railway junction. However, the exhumation of his remarkably well-preserved embalmed body in 1949 cast doubt on this version of events.

Doubts arose due to inconsistencies in the skull’s injuries. Forensic examination suggested that the bullet entered the back of his head, not the temple, raising suspicions that he may have been killed by someone within his own ranks. This led to scrutiny of individuals present at the time of his death.

Suspicion initially fell on Ivan Dubovoy, Shchors’ deputy. Dubovoy had reported the machine-gun fire and prevented a nurse from changing Shchors’ head bandage. However, Dubovoy had been executed in the late 1930s.

Investigators also considered Semyon Aralov and Pavel Tankhil-Tankhilevich, who were both near Shchors when he died. Aralov, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council and an associate of Leon Trotsky, may have viewed Shchors as a liability.

The initial decision to bury Shchors in Samara, far from his Ukrainian homeland and the site of his death, was attributed to fears of grave desecration and the presence of his widow’s parents in the city. His first burial was at the Vsesvyatskoye Cemetery, which was later closed and built over. His grave was lost and rediscovered in 1949, prompting the reburial.