Marina Novitskaya visited the Orsha sewing workshop of Mark Formelle as part of the Unified Information Day
18.06.2026
Marina Novitskaya, Head of the Main Department of Ideological Work and Youth Affairs of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, visited the Orsha sewing workshop of Mark Formelle, one of the leading Belarusian manufacturers of underwear and clothing, as part of the Unified Information Day.
Addressing the team, she noted that the light industry is a priority today.
– We can confidently and proudly state that the Vitebsk region is the heart of the light industry, and this sector largely fills the budget. Your work is very difficult. Today I spoke with one of the seamstresses, asking about the working conditions: what the shift is like, how much time is spent in static tension, when the breaks are. Of course, this is not an easy profession. The fact that you are high-class masters today, and that Mark Formelle's products are loved, valued, and respected is great. And the fact that the warehouse is not overloaded is also an indicator of your success.
Addressing the main theme of the Unified Information Day, Marina Novitskaya recalled that we are on the eve of a sorrowful date – the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
– Today, we understand more than ever how fragile the world is. We see what is happening around us. The recent tragedy with young Gomel athletes is a reminder: no one is insured against anything. If we rewind time to the distant year of 1941, June 22 was the day when school graduates finished their studies and held prom balls. Happy young men and women made plans for the future, but for many of them, it never came. According to official statistics, over 90% of the young people born in 1923, who were finishing their studies at the time and volunteered for the army, did not return from the front. Families were short of their sons, brothers, and children. We, Belarusians, lost a huge number of people. I am sure that in every family, if you flip through a family album, you will find relatives who did not return from that war.
The speaker emphasized that this memory is ingrained within us, Belarusians, at a genetic level.
– Literally today, search operations are underway in Polotsk, and on this day, the remains of 1200 soldiers are being reburied on Polotsk land. Hundreds of thousands of names of those who fought during the Great Patriotic War remain unidentified. Since 2021, on the initiative of the Prosecutor General's Office, a program has been in place to investigate the genocide of the Belarusian people. Previously, some of this information was hidden. We knew about Khatyn – a village that was burned alive. But in the Vitebsk region alone, the fate of burned villages was repeated in more than 5,000 settlements, – stated Marina Novitskaya. – In Vitebsk, there is a memorial sign "Fifth Regiment" – at the site of one of the most horrific concentration camps. 80,000 people were exterminated there – which is practically the population of the city of Orsha. No one spared either small children or infirm old people – they all became victims of this genocide. And in the name of our children and grandchildren, we must do everything to preserve this memory.
Concluding her speech, the Head of the Main Department of Ideological Work and Youth Affairs wished that for many decades and centuries, the enterprise, our country, would prosper, and people would look confidently into the future and rejoice under a peaceful sky.
– Therefore, be proud, appreciate what you have, and, most importantly, cherish your family and friends, your homeland, – summed up Marina Novitskaya.