The NKVD prison in Ternopil was located on Adam Mickiewicz Street. A large number of Poles were held here, members of various underground organisations, including a group of scouts forming a secret cell of the Union of Armed Struggle, known as the "Young Forest" (their trial took place in 1940, but some sentences were not carried out until 1941).

Upon hearing that the Third Reich had attacked the USSR on 22.06.1941, the NKVD carried out the liquidation and evacuation of the prison. First, on 22.06.1941, a wave of arrests was intensified, resulting in almost 1,800 people in the prison. Then, for several nights, the arrested were systematically shot in the prison. On 1.07.1941 a column of about 1,000 prisoners was evacuated from Ternopil. Their fate is not known.

The next day after the Germans occupied Ternopil, the NKVD prison was opened. A huge number of corpses were found there - their number was up to a thousand. It is estimated that there were about 200 Poles among the victims. The NKVD victims found in the building and in the prison courtyard were buried in a common grave in the cemetery. On the grave, the Ukrainians piled a barrow and placed a cross with a trident on it. The marking of this grave lacked information that the grave also hid the remains of Poles.

This mound was destroyed in 1944 when the Soviet army captured Ternopil - then the Soviets used bulldozers to crush the grave. On 31.07.1989, the mound was consecrated again. There is still no mention of the Polish victims on it. It is a large mound overgrown with grass, topped by a high cross; a little below the cross is a statue of the Virgin Mary, and at the foot of the mound are plaques with the established names of the victims (including those of Polish nationality), the inscriptions on the plaques are in Ukrainian only. On the cobbled square in front of the mound there are several earthen graves with metal crosses without inscriptions. Several small metal crosses have also been placed on the mound. An inscription is placed next to the plaques with the names of the victims: "To the victims of Stalinist repressions 1939-1941".