In Lepel, the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people was honored

Today, on the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Genocide of the Belarusian People, a series of events took place in Lepel. The first location was the territory of Secondary School No. 3 in Lepel. Here, a memorial rally "We Will Remember Forever" was held at the memorial sign marking the site of the execution of civilians.

Today, on the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Genocide of the Belarusian People, a series of events took place in Lepel. The first location was the territory of Secondary School No. 3 in Lepel. Here, a memorial rally "We Will Remember Forever" was held at the memorial sign marking the site of the execution of civilians.

The second venue for the events was the District House of Culture. A requiem evening "We Will Not Forget '41" was held here.

June 22, 1941, was a quiet summer day. Shops, the post office, and even the registry office were open. School classes had ended, and students at the pedagogical college and nursing school had started their holidays. At 12:00 PM, the residents of our town listened to V.M. Molotov's radio address, from which they learned about the outbreak of the war. At dawn on July 2, 1941, German aircraft carried out the first raid on Lepel, and by evening, the advance detachment of the German 7th Tank Division had approached the town and began shelling from the direction of the village of Stai. Lepel, in the vicinity of which large military depots were located, was defended only by the cadet regiment of the Lepel Artillery and Mortar School, which was stationed in the village of Borovka, as well as separate units and border guards who had retreated eastward.

During the requiem evening, artists from the District House of Culture presented a heart-rending program, bringing many to tears. All those who perished in that terrible war were honored by the event participants with a minute of silence…

From July 3, 1941, to June 28, 1944, Lepel was under the yoke of fascist occupation for over a thousand days. According to archive data, 4,700 people were killed in the Lepel region during the war, including 1,600 women, 550 children, and 903 people were deported to Germany for forced labor. A memorial sign in honor of those tortured in camps, executed, and killed partisans, civilians, soldiers, Red Army soldiers, and Jews was erected in the center of the town in 2004 on the territory of the state educational institution "Secondary School No. 3 of Lepel City."

http://www.lepel-kraj.by/v-lepele-v-den-pamyati-i-skorbi-proxodit-chereda-meropriyatij/