Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and Genocide of the Belarusian People

June 22, 2024 marks 83 years since that terrible day when the Great Patriotic War burst into the life of our country and each family individually. This is a special countdown of time, a countdown between life and death, and immortality.

Without declaring war, on Sunday June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany and its allies unleashed an invasion force unprecedented in history on our country.

The first strikes were carried out by German aircraft at dawn. Hundreds of German bombers invaded Soviet airspace. They bombed airfields, troop locations in the western border districts, railway junctions, communication lines and other important facilities, as well as large cities. The Great Patriotic War began – the most difficult of all the wars the country has ever experienced.

The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus contains documents that cover the preparation of Nazi Germany for war, the activities of the Soviet military and political leadership to strengthen the defense capability of the BSSR, the organization of the evacuation of the population and material resources to the eastern regions of the USSR, the establishment of the Nazi occupation regime in Belarus and the policy of genocide, the deployment of partisan and underground movement, the heroism of partisans and underground fighters.

Archival documents convincingly demonstrate that from the very first days, the Great Patriotic War became the greatest test for our country and the rise of human patriotism, the cohesion of representatives of different generations and nationalities both at the front and in the rear.

1. Poster for the exhibition «Get up, huge country..».

2. Special report on Germany’s preparation for war against the USSR.

3. Special report on Germany’s preparation for war against the USSR, sheet 1.

4. Special report on Germany’s preparation for war against the USSR, sheet 2

5. Minutes of the meeting of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B dated June 22, 1941, sheet 1

6. Minutes of the meeting of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the CP(b)B dated June 22, 1941, sheet 2