Lesson that must not be forgotten

The Khatyn tragedy has become a symbol of hundreds and thousands of other tragedies, and together they are a manifestation of genocide, the inhuman policy pursued by the Hitlerite occupiers on our land. On March 22nd, the Come and Bow memorial event was held in a place sacred to every Belarusian — Khatyn State Memorial Complex. A wreath from President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko was laid at the Eternal Flame in Khatyn.

Cemetery of Villages in Khatyn symbolises 186 villages that were burned by German Nazi invaders in Belarus during
Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 and were never rebuilt                                                      Aleksei Bibikov




Khatyn. The name of this village resonates with pain in the heart of every Belarusian, of any person of goodwill. Belarusians fiercely defend the truth about those events, uncompromisingly fighting against any attempts to rehabilitate Nazism. It became clear from the very first minutes of the Great Patriotic War that the Hitlerites brought death and destruction to our land. Nazi ideology did not presuppose any other policy. Caveman anti-Semitism, the attitude towards Slavs as ‘subhumans’, the concept of ‘living space’, anti-communism — these are the characteristic features of the teaching of Hitler and his ilk. By 1941, the first concentration camps had already appeared in occupied Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, and other countries. But it was on the territory of the Soviet Union that Hitlerism manifested itself in all its monstrous fullness. Not only was a propagandistic justification for genocide created in advance, but also a mechanism, a real empire of terror and colonial exploitation. Everyone was involved in this hellish flywheel: the occupation administration, the SS, the SD [Nazi intelligence agency], the Wehrmacht, and German businessmen who wanted to profit from the ‘eastern lands’. Local traitors became faithful accomplices of the German masters, conductors of the policy of murder and robbery.
As early as November 2nd, 1942, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Extraordinary State Commission (abbreviated ChGK) was set up to establish and investigate the atrocities of the German-fascist invaders and their accomplices, and the damage they caused to citizens, collective farms, public organisations, state enterprises and institutions of the USSR. A colossal amount of work was carried out at that time. Despite the scale of the ChGK’s activities, it became clear almost immediately after the war that it had not covered all the crimes committed by the occupiers and collaborators. Thus, in March 1946, Joseph Stalin stated in an interview with the Pravda (Truth) newspaper that as a result of the German invasion, occupation and abduction of people for forced labour, the Soviet Union had irretrievably lost seven million people. In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev, in a letter to the Prime Minister of Sweden, first named a new death toll — 20 million people. This figure became canonical for many years.
In 1990, the Soviet authorities publicly announced 27 million deaths. Obviously, such a significant adjustment in the number of losses required new investigations. They were carried out throughout the post-war period. The most high-profile cases include the trial of Antonina Makarova (Panfilova, married name Ginzburg), known as Tonka the machine gunner, in 1978, as well as the trial of Hryhoriy Vasiura, the executioner of Khatyn, in 1986.

In April 2021, Belarus launched an investigation into the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War. The urgency of this step was largely due to the trend towards the rehabilitation of Nazi criminals and their accomplices. Many European countries, including Belarus’ neighbours, have begun to pursue precisely such a policy. Moreover, they are making persistent attempts to transmit their views to Belarusian society, which was particularly noticeable in 2020. The investigation of this case acquired significant socio-political resonance from the very beginning.

Text on Wall of Sorrow: Humanity did not know in centuries such atrocities in whole world. Fascists built monstrous death camps.
People died in them unconquered with firm belief in victory of their Motherland                                     Daria Titova

As a result of the activities of prosecutors, as well as involved historians, military personnel and employees of internal affairs bodies, it has been possible to significantly correct the data on the policy of genocide and mass terror carried out by the Nazi occupiers. Thus, while the Khatyn memorial complex indicates that 186 Belarusian villages were destroyed along with their inhabitants and never revived, it has now been established that at least 290 settlements shared the fate of Khatyn.
One hundred and sixty-six previously unknown sites of destruction and burial of victims have been discovered. It has additionally been discovered that another 3,668 settlements were completely or partially destroyed, and the total figure is now 12,868. Behind these figures lie the tragedies of millions of people. All this is the result of the crimes of specific executioners and punishers. To date, six convictions have been handed down by courts for the genocide of the Belarusian people, and 137 requests for legal assistance have been prepared in the criminal case on genocide. They have been sent to 33 countries. Unfortunately, the authorities of not all countries are willing to co-operate in the investigation. After all, establishing the truth about the Nazis’ atrocities contradicts the policy pursued by the ruling circles of these states. Moreover, some of the criminals are glorified there.
Let’s say this is exactly what is happening in Lithuania and Ukraine. Their example is by no means unique, though. Previously, Western countries mostly refused to co-operate with the USSR and socialist states in the search and punishment of Nazi criminals. As a result, tens of thousands of murderers either completely avoided deserved punishment, or calmly lived to a ripe old age. 
The fight against attempts to rehabilitate Nazism, justify and glorify criminals guilty of mass terror remains an urgent task for the state and society. Article 130-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus envisages criminal liability for the rehabilitation of Nazism, Article 130-2 — for the denial of the genocide of the Belarusian people, and Article 341-1 — for the propaganda or public display, production, distribution of Nazi symbols or paraphernalia. There are quite recent cases of initiation of criminal cases under these articles. 
The fugitives are especially active in this regard. Their propaganda is based on throwing mud at the heroic feat and tragedy of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War, especially the Belarusian partisans, as well as admiring the polizei [traitors who defected to the Nazi] and even their Nazi masters such as Wilhelm Kube. Well, in this aspect they consistently continue the traditions of Hitler’s henchmen. They have not even changed the symbols: the white-red-white rag, like a devil’s mark, is inherited.

Our answer is simple and harsh: the state will relentlessly and uncompromisingly fight against any manifestations of neo-Nazism. There is no other option.

By Vadim Gigin, deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, Candidate of Historical Sciences