National Archives of the Republic of Belarus held events to mark 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, 14 June 2011

On 14 June 2011, the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus held events to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War (World War II in the Soviet Union 1941-1945) prepared as part of the international project on Enhancing the Status of the Survivors of the Burnt Villages of Belarus.

The events included the presentation of a book of documents,The Tragedy of Belarusian Villages. 1941-1944, an electronic database on Belarusian Villages Burnt during the Great Patriotic War, and a documentary exhibition entitled Sacred Memory. Tragedy of Belarusian Villages.

The organisers are the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian Peace Foundation.

Among the speakers at the event were the director at the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry V. I. Adamushko, the alternate director at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus N. K. Rudakovsky, the coordinator of the “Enhancing the Status of the Survivors of the Burnt Villages of Belarus” N. V. Kirillova, the chief archivist at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus V. D. Selemenev, the honored architector, winner of the USSR Lenin Prize and the State Prize of Belarus L. M. Levin.

Partaking at the event were the surviving residents of the burnt Belarusian villages Ippolit I. Kostyukevich and Kvetenia G. Voitekhovich (Kushtali village, Sharkovshchina district, Vitebsk region), Zinaida P. Levanets (Skirmontovo village, Dzerzhinsk district, Minsk region), Sergey A. Golovko (Malaya Kolpenitsa village, Baranovichi district, Brest region).