On the Lesson of Memory held by the institution «Zonal State Archive in Zhlobin»

On March 20, 2025, in anticipation of the memorable date, the archivist of the institution «Zonal State Archive in Zhlobin» held a memory lesson «Khatyn – the memory and pain of the Belarusian land» for 7th-grade students of the State Educational Institution «Gymnasium No.8 named after V.I.Kozlov» together with the city library No.2 of Zhlobin.

Khatyn. A village in Belarus, destroyed on March 22, 1943 by a punitive detachment as revenge for the murder of several German soldiers. 149 people died in the fire, including 75 children, the youngest was only 7 weeks old.

Remembering Khatyn, they also remembered thousands of other Belarusian villages brutally destroyed by the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War. Among them is the village of Ola, where 12 times more people died than in the infamous Khatyn. It has been established that 1,758 innocent people were brutally killed that day, including 508 women and 950 children, 100 men, and 200 old people. Unfortunately, the exact number of victims is still unknown and is estimated at almost two thousand people.

Archive employee Eliseeva I.N. provided the students with a unique opportunity to get acquainted with documents confirming that terrible tragedy: a list of burned children under 15, and interview protocols of survivors of that terrible tragedy.

The meeting ended with a minute of silence.

We will never forget the terrible pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War. We will never forgive the cruelty, inhumanity, and atrocities of the enemy on our land. We remember this, and this is our strength.

1. Archive employee Eliseeva I.N. during the lesson

2. Archive employee Eliseeva I.N. together with a student of the gymnasium

3. Archive employee Eliseeva I.N. shows documents to students

4. Archive employee Eliseeva I.N. shows documents to students

5. During a minute of silence