Kistelevo is located approximately 30 kilometers from Lepel. Or rather, it used to be. The sister village of Khatyn was never rebuilt after the war.

The picturesque landscapes of the lake-rich Lepel region. It seems that it has always been as quiet, peaceful, and beautiful here as it is now. However, this land still remembers the bloody years of occupation, filled with fear, horror, and pain.

Among the villages burned down in the Lepel district are 50 settlements. For another 30 settlements, research and search operations are being conducted as part of the investigation into the criminal case of the genocide of the Belarusian people.

Grim pages of history: the residents of Kistelyevtsy were locked in a barn. The occupiers themselves, along with collaborators, began to rob and set fire to their homes. When only ashes remained of the village, the villagers were driven back. They were horrified... Not by the burned-out huts, but by a huge pit dug by the collaborators in the center of the village. People were shot right on the edge of the grave.

Kistelyevo no longer exists and never will. Now it is a memorial village. As a reminder to all of us: such a thing must never happen again on Belarusian soil.