In 1944, several months before they were driven away from the Soviet land, Nazis set an assembly station for Belarusian children between eight and 14 years of age who were to become donors for officers and soldiers of Wehrmacht. Some 2,000 children were sent to Germany from the district, but very few came back…
The first attempt to put up a monument to the “dead class” was back in 1994, but the construction was suspended then due to the lack of funds. The district administration has resumed the project recently.
The unique memorial had been designed by the team of the honorary architect of Belarus Leonid Levin. This is a multidimensional memorial that consists of an apple orchard, “Square of the Sun”, and the “dead class”, several rows of empty desks… The black and white pattern of the monument is a striking contrast to children’s paintings.
Such a large-scale project may require additional financing, for the memorial costs an estimated 1 billion Belarusian rubles. The district administration might need help from those who care both in Belarus and abroad.
Mourning for “Dead Class”
A memorial to the children victims of World War II is being put up in Krasny Bereg village, in the Zhlobin District
