The Butovo firing range was under the control of the NKVD. According to historians, executions took place here starting in 1935. In the 1970s, KGB employees disguised thirteen large burial sites, turning them into an apple orchard. Now this place has become part of the memorial "Memory Garden."

The concept of the monument is that, descending into the memorial alley, visitors find themselves at the level of the burials. On granite slabs along the 300-meter alley, 20,762 names of people executed at the Butovo firing range from August 1937 to October 1938 are engraved. Walking along the granite walls, reminiscent of a shooting trench, one can today see the lists of victims reflecting the horrors of the Butovo firing range.