BSAMLA on the 81st anniversary of the burning of Khatyn

«Khatyn, the smoke of which I, a teenager of the war, remember – I saw with my own eyes its black clouds behind the distant forest on the horizon. I remember how the grandfathers on the street tried to determine, wondering: what is burning this time, which village?» – recalled the national poet of Belarus Nil Semenovich Gilevich.

In connection with the mournful date – the 81st anniversary of the destruction of Khatyn – the Belarusian State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art honors the memory of every resident of Belarusian villages burned during the Great Patriotic War.

For those who cannot visit the Khatyn memorial complex today, we are posting photographs from the documentary story of one of its creators, Honored Architect of the Republic of Belarus Leonid Mendelevich Levin:

No. 0. Khatyn. Memorial signs on the site of burned houses.

No. 1. Khatyn. Sculptural composition «Old Man with a Boy in His Arms» («Unconquered»). Photo from 2022.

No. 2. Cover of Leonid Levin’s book «Khatyn».