22 march 2022

22.03.2022

On the 22nd of March 1943, Belarusian village Khatyn was burnt.
The tragedy took the lives of 149 people, 75 of whom were children below the age of 16. Only 6 people survived and has been recognized as witnesses of that tragedy: the only adult, I. Kaminsky, and 5 children.

The national state memorial "Khatyn" was inaugurated in 1969 to remember the victims of fascism. The personal tragedy of Iosif Kaminsky was depicted in the sculpture “Unbowed Man”.
Khatyn memorial is the only "Cemetery of villages" in the world.
Over the years, it has been visited by 40 million people from 100 countries.

During the years of occupation, Belarus went through a lot:
more than 140 major punitive operations were carried out,
250 Nazi death camps were created on its territory,
more than 2.2 million people died at the hands of the occupiers,
more than 9.2 thousand settlements were destroyed and burned,
209 out of 270 cities turned into ruins,
628 villages were destroyed along with the inhabitants,
188 villages could not be revived.