An очередная stage of the patriotic campaign "In Glory of the Common Victory" has taken place in the Postavy district of the Vitebsk region, as reported to a BELTA correspondent by Maria Laptinskaya, a researcher for the protection of historical and cultural heritage at the Postavy District Museum of Local Lore.
The campaign was held in three locations within the district. Local residents, representatives of government bodies, and public organizations collected soil from the monument at the site of a Jewish burial in Dunilovichi, from the grave of partisan and underground fighter Uustin Yasyukovich in the village of Krivoye, and from the burial site of residents of the village of Altsy who were burned to death and whose village was not preserved after the war. In the future, this soil will be placed in a capsule named after the Postavy district.
"In Dunilovichi, 829 Jews were shot during the war, about 300 of whom were children. However, there were instances where local residents helped Jews escape. One family was awarded the title of 'Righteous Among the Nations'. During the campaign, its participants honored the memory of the Fatherland's defenders and fallen civilians," noted Maria Laptinskaya.
There are 21 burial sites from the Great Patriotic War period in the Postavy district, where over 3,000 victims of the war are interred. Organizations and schools are assigned to each site of military glory, and they themselves maintain the mass graves and monuments to the liberators. Thanks to the search efforts of Alexander Kuznetsov, director of Postavy Secondary School No. 2, and its students, the names of those killed in the district are constantly being identified. Relatives of some previously unknown soldiers are planning to visit and honor their memory in the near future.
The patriotic campaign "In Glory of the Common Victory" is being held in the districts of the Vitebsk region in two stages. Its main part is scheduled for the current autumn and spring of 2020. Capsules containing information about the fallen and soil from the regions will be handed over for placement in the crypt of the Church-Monument in honor of All Saints in Minsk.