Memory of the Victims of War: Visit to the Excavation Site in Polotsk

On August 20, 2025, employees of the Zonal State Archive in Polotsk witnessed tragic pages of history by visiting the excavation site where a mass grave of Polotsk residents brutally exterminated by the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War was discovered.

This trip was not just an excursion, but an immersion into the atmosphere of horror and inhumanity that reigned in the occupied territories. A representative of the Polotsk District Prosecutor’s Office spoke in detail about the deliberate and cruel policy of the occupiers aimed at the genocide of the Belarusian population. He emphasized the scale of the tragedy that unfolded on Belarusian soil, where the Nazis carried out the systematic extermination of civilians.

The personal belongings of the victims found during the excavations became an impressive and painful confirmation of these words. These modest objects, which once belonged to living people, now serve as silent witnesses to the atrocities of the occupiers.

According to preliminary data, the burial dates back to 1941, a period when the Nazis primarily exterminated Soviet communists and representatives of the intelligentsia. The destruction of these social groups was part of a plan to deprive the Belarusian people of their cultural and political potential.

The visit to the excavation site became an important reminder of the need to preserve the historical memory of the tragedy of the Great Patriotic War and the inadmissibility of repeating such atrocities in the future. The archive staff, having come into contact with this pain, were given the opportunity to better understand the importance of their work in preserving and passing on to future generations the truth about the war, the heroism of the Soviet people and the terrible price paid for peace. This trip strengthened the understanding that forgetting the lessons of history is fraught with the repetition of tragedies.

During the inspection of compliance with labor legislation in the institution «Zonal State Archive in Rechitsa»