On September 1, 2004, a group of Chechen fighters took over 1,000 people hostage in Beslan School Number One in North Ossetia (Russia). The assault that followed two days later resulted in 334 casualties, including 186 children. Based on a fieldwork study during the 2017 commemorative events, this article presents the issues and controversies underlying both the responsibility for and the memorialization of the event, which is powerfully constrained by the official mechanisms of memory.