TO THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BURNING OF KHATYN

On March 20, 2024, the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus opened the exhibition «Khatyn Alarm» at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus, dedicated to the tragedy of the Belarusian village of Khatyn, which was burned along with its inhabitants on March 22, 1943.

On March 22, 1943, near the village of Khatyn, Logoisky district, Minsk region, partisans fired at a fascist convoy and as a result of the attack, a German officer was killed. In response, the punitive forces surrounded the village, drove all the residents into a barn and set it on fire, and those who tried to escape were shot with machine guns and machine guns. As a result, 149 innocent people died, 75 of them children under the age of 16. The village was plundered and burned to the ground, while 5 children and 1 adult, Joseph Kaminsky (prototype of the sculpture «The Unconquered Man») miraculously escaped. The punitive operation was carried out by the 118th police battalion, formed in 1942 in Kyiv from former prisoners of war, as well as units of the SS battalion O. Dirlewanger.

In January 1966, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus decided to create the Khatyn memorial complex in memory of hundreds of Belarusian villages destroyed by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War and the enormous contribution of the Belarusian people, who made countless sacrifices in the name of victory. In March of the same year, a design competition started, following which the work of architects L. Levin, Y. Gradov and V. Zankovich won. Construction was completed in record time, and already on July 5, 1969, the grand opening of the Khatyn memorial took place, which was attended by veterans and witnesses of the tragedy.

In 2022–2023, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out at the Khatyn memorial complex for the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, during which new symbolic objects appeared. At the entrance to the memorial complex, a new Museum of Memory of the Victims of the Belarusian People was opened – a unique emotional space designed to show how terrible any aggression and hatred is, what horror and destruction it brings, how it turns people’s lives into ashes.

In memory of hundreds of Belarusian villages destroyed by the Nazis and the enormous contribution of the Belarusian people, Khatyn became a symbol of the pain and suffering of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War.

The exhibition is based on authentic documents from the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus: this is a report from the General Commissioner in Minsk on the destruction of the village of Khatyn dated April 1, 1943, an act drawn up by residents of the village of Selishche of the Kamensky village council of the Pleschenitsky district of the Minsk region on the burning of the village of Khatyn with its population, an act Commission of the Pleshchenitsky underground district committee of the Communist Party (b)B, partisan detachment named after. M.I. Kalinin and residents of the village of Selishche about the atrocities of the German punitive expedition in the village of Khatyn, a report from the commander of the 118th police security battalion to the head of the SS and police of the Borisov district about the partisan attack on the battalion near the village of Guby and the destruction of the village of Khatyn, a letter from the Minsk Regional Executive Committee to the Council of Ministers of the BSSR on the construction of a memorial museum-monument in the village of Khatyn, Order of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR on the start of construction of a monument-museum in the village of Khatyn, documents on the acceptance into operation of the 2nd stage of the memorial complex of the monument-museum on the site of the former village of Khatyn and the completion of the construction of the memorial complex «Khatyn», Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the BSSR on awarding the Certificate of Honor and the Certificate of the Supreme Council of the Belarusian SSR to workers, engineering and technical workers and employees of design, construction and installation organizations, party and Soviet bodies, who particularly distinguished themselves during the construction and commissioning commissioning of the Khatyn memorial complex and other documents.

1. Leading archivist of the department for the use of documents and information of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus V.P. Garmatny introduces the employees of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus to the exhibition materials

2. Exhibits of the exhibition

3. Exhibition materials