In Vitebsk, at a rally near the memorial complex "5th Regiment", the memory of the victims of fascism was honored
During World War II, thousands of concentration camps operated in Germany, its allied countries, and occupied territories. Their prisoners were burned in crematoria furnaces, including while alive, poisoned in gas chambers, tortured, raped, and starved. Additionally, they were forced to work to exhaustion, had their blood taken for the Wehrmacht soldiers, and underwent medical experiments, with new drugs tested on them.
On April 11, 1945, Buchenwald (Germany) was liberated. However, an armed uprising had broken out there the day before, so the prisoners had already managed to take control of the death camp by the time the servicemen arrived. Thanks to this, the Nazis did not have time to cover up the traces of their crimes. It was on this day that the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps began to be observed.
In Vitebsk, a rally was held at the "5th Regiment" memorial complex, located on the site of the former Stalag No. 313. The event was attended by leaders of the region and the city, representatives of labor collectives, educational institutions, and public organizations, as well as witnesses of those terrible events. They laid flowers and wreaths at the monument and observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of Nazism.
— Our memory is immortal. It will live forever in the hearts of Belarusians, because it is impossible to forget the bloody atrocities committed by the invaders during the Great Patriotic War, — said Petr Podgursky, Head of the Department of Culture of the Regional Executive Committee. — Almost 80 years have passed since the end of the war. It is still important for current generations to know the truth about the atrocities of the Hitlerites. Recently, new information about the genocide of the Belarusian people has emerged — the Prosecutor General's Office has initiated a corresponding criminal case. Therefore, we can respond to modern challenges with arguments and react promptly to ongoing geopolitical processes. The global situation is tense. We are experiencing the effects of hybrid warfare technologies.
The bloody and brutal war spared no one, not even the elderly and children. Only one out of twelve survived those who were imprisoned. The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1946 recognized that the detention of civilians of foreign states and their use for the benefit of Germany was not only a military crime but also a crime against humanity. For example, the "5th Regiment" death camp operated from the beginning of the occupation until the liberation of Vitebsk. Tens of thousands of people passed through it, and the majority of them died.
Today, there are just over 2,000 former prisoners left in the Vitebsk region. Many of them were children in places of mass extermination. Today, they are the last living witnesses of the brutal fascist terror.
— We bow our heads low to those who survived, — noted Petr Podgursky. — We thank them for their feat and selfless labor in the post-war period.
