Lukashenko: The tragedy of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War is incomparable to any modern difficulties

11/05/20200 views

The tragedy of the Belarusian people, who bore the titanic burden of losses and destruction of the most brutal war of the 20th century, is incomparable to any difficulties of the present day. This was stated by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, today at a military parade dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

“This holiday is sacred to us. The tragedy of the Belarusian people, who bore the titanic burden of losses and destruction of the most brutal war of the 20th century, is incomparable to any difficulties of the present day. Even the thought of deviating from the traditions that have glorified the history of the great feat of the victors for 75 years is unacceptable to us,” emphasized Alexander Lukashenko.

The President noted that this year the military parade in Minsk was the only one in the post-Soviet space, but it was held in honor of all Soviet soldiers who liberated the world from Nazism. “Today we honor the feat of our fathers and grandfathers. Their path to victory was washed with the tears of mothers, wives and children, soaked in the blood of comrades fallen in battle and civilians, and shrouded in the ashes of villages burned by the enemy,” said the head of state. “We bow to the feat of Russians and Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews, Tatars and Kazakhs, Tajiks and Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and Turkmen, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Moldovans, Latvians, Lithujanian, Estonians – all residents of the Soviet Union, fighters of the European Resistance movement, our allies – the USA, Great Britain and China. Their courage, bravery, and readiness to die for their Motherland became a terrible weapon of retribution for the Nazi executioners and their satellites.”

According to him, history has taught a lesson to the followers of Nazi ideology, invaders with excessive geopolitical ambitions. Its meaning, the President noted, is simple and just: a people who defend their native country, their families, and the future of their children are invincible.

“Belarus stood as a living shield in the path of the aggressor. Here, on our land, after traversing half of Europe, the Hitlerites encountered such fierce resistance for the first time. The heroic defence of the Brest Fortress and the city of Mogilev lasted much longer than the capture of many European states. It was in the brutal battles of 1941, including those on Belarusian soil, that the enemy's confidence in its own superiority was shaken, and the foundations for the future Great Victory were laid,” Alexander Lukashenko noted.

The Head of State emphasised that the contribution of the Belarusian people to the defeat of fascism is beyond any doubt. 1.3 million Belarusians fought in the ranks of the Red Army, and over 400,000 partisans and underground fighters controlled 60% of the occupied territory of the country by the end of 1943. “This is the death of every third Belarusian resident who shielded the Nazis' path further east – towards the capital of our Union. And as long as our hearts ache for those who did not return from the battlefields, as long as the truth about that war is heard – we remember! For every day of peaceful and free life has been paid for with millions of lives and destinies crippled by war. We are forever bound by blood ties with the fraternal peoples with whom our fathers and grandfathers stopped the catastrophe of the 20th century,” said the Belarusian leader.