Press conference on the publication of a collection of documents Nazi Punitive Operation in Belarusian-Latvian Border Areas February-March 1943
On 21 March 2013 the press center of the Press House held a press conference for mass media representatives from the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation devoted to the publication of a collection of documents and materials, Winterzauber. Nazi Punitive Operation in the Belarusian-Latvian Border Areas, February -– March 1943. The book was prepared and published by the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry of the Republic of Belarus (Department) and the Russian Historical Memory Foundation for Assistance to Urgent Historical Research (Moscow).
Participants at the event were the Department’s head for scholarly use of documents and information division G. Zholnerkevich, the chief archivist at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus V. Selemenev, deputy chief editor of the newspaper Zvyazda V. Kluchnik, coordinator of the international project Raising of the Status of the Surviving Residents of the Burned Villages in Belarus N. Kirillova, the director of the Russian Historical Memory Foundation for Assistance to Urgent Historical Research (Moscow) A. Dyukov.
The press conference dealt with the issues of the Nazi policy in the struggle against the Partisan movement in Belarusian territory, in particular the history of the punitive operation named Winterzauber in February-March 1943 in the area of Osveya, Drissa, Rossony (Republic of Belarus) and Sebezh (Russian Federation) districts. During the operation 439 inhabited localities were burned by the Nazis, more than 10,000 residents perished, and over 6,000 people were sent to forced labour.
The participants at the press conference gave special attention to the issues of increasing the status of the residents of the burned Belarusian villages and discussed the preparation of an electronic database of the Belarusian villages burned in World War II 1941-1944 and its placement in the Internet.