Lukashenko’s decree changed the name of memorable date of June 22nd
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has signed Decree No. 117, which amends Decree No. 157 of 26 March 1998 On National Holidays, Public Holidays and Commemorative Dates in the Republic of Belarus – as reported by the Belarusian leader’s press service
The name of the memorable date has been changed from the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War – June 22nd to the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Genocide of the Belarusian People – June 22nd.
The decree was prepared on the basis of the Law On the Genocide of the Belarusian People (as of January 5th, 2022), which recognises the facts of the commission of atrocities by Nazi criminals and their accomplices, nationalist formations during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period, aimed at the systematic physical destruction of the Belarusian people, as the genocide of the Belarusian people.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis established more than 260 death camps and places of mass extermination of people on the territory of Belarus. This tragic list includes Trostenets, Khatyn, Ozarichskaya death zone, Krasny Bereg. According to incomplete data, about 1.5 million people died in camps in Belarus alone. More than 9,000 settlements have been destroyed on the territory of the country. In total, Belarus has lost every third of its inhabitants.
