June 22 – Day of national memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people

June 22 is one of the most tragic dates in the history of Belarus. On this day, the Great Patriotic War began. Today, on the Day of National Remembrance of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people, the employees of the National Archives honored the memory of people who, at the cost of their lives, kept peace in our land. Director A.K.Demyanuk addressed the staff of the archive and noted the tragedy of all wars in the history of mankind. The Victory, the peace on our Belarusian soil, came at too high a price – every third Belarusian died during the Great Patriotic War. At 12 o’clock the employees of the archive honored the memory of their fallen compatriots and joined the republican action – the All-Belarusian minute of silence.

On the same day, a group of employees of the National Archives – representatives of the primary public organizations of the trade union, NGO «Belarusian Union of Women», NGO «Belarusian Republican Youth Union», NGO «Belaya Rus», NGO «Belarusian Society of Archivists», visited the Memorial «Memorial Complex Trostenets Tract Blagovshchina» and passed the «Road of death» of mass extermination of people to the Blagovshchina tract.

«Trostenets» unites places of mass extermination of people: the death camp of the same name, the Shashkovka tract and the Blagovshchina tract. Trostenets was one of the largest death camps organized by the Nazis in Europe during the Second World War. According to the data indicated on the slab at the entrance to the Memorial, 206,500 people died and were buried here. But, according to the latest information provided by the prosecutor’s office to investigate the facts of the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, about 500,000 people died here. Exactly at noon, the employees of the archive honored the memory of all those who died in the Blagovshchina tract with a minute of silence and laid flowers at the Monument.

On this bright, sunny day, it is hard to imagine that monstrous facts took place on Belarusian soil – the Nazis destroyed people of different ages, nationalities, and religions. And let the stork soaring above the Memorial in the clear blue sky today symbolize Peace and Creation in our country.