Vitebsk marked the International Day of Prisoners of War Liberation from Fascist Concentration Camps. A memorial rally was held at the "5th Regiment" memorial complex.
Representatives of work collectives, public organizations, students, and heads of the region and city laid wreaths and flowers at the monument.
During the Great Patriotic War, the site of the former 5th Railway Regiment housed the fascist Stalag No. 313, which operated from September 1941 to May 1944. The total number of those shot, who died from hunger and diseases, exceeded 100,000 people.
– 80 years separate us from the terrible events of the Great Patriotic War, – Vyacheslav Durnov, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, addressed the attendees. – The names of death camps like Trostinets, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz, and Majdanek resonate in our hearts with grief and pain. On April 11, 1945, prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp staged an uprising, regained their freedom, and in memory of this event, the International Day of Prisoners of War Liberation from Fascist Concentration Camps was established. Their victims included both the elderly and children, and it is important for our contemporaries to know the truth about those atrocities. Now that new data on the genocide of Belarusians during the war has emerged, we will be able to respond convincingly to the challenges of our time. Many documents related to the genocide case, initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus, testify to the scale of the tragedy. The international situation is tense, and we are experiencing the effects of the most modern hybrid warfare technologies. It is important for us to react promptly to the ongoing geopolitical processes. A separate topic is the children of war, – emphasized Vyacheslav Durnov. – Today, child prisoners are the last living witnesses of brutal fascist terror. We bow our heads low before those who endured and survived the most terrible trials. You have lived your lives with dignity, making a significant contribution to the formation of modern independent Belarus.
Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by