In Vitebsk, at the site of the former concentration camp '5th Regiment', the memory of the victims of fascism was honored
– It is impossible to forget the bloody atrocities of fascism committed during World War II. The names of death camps – Trostyanets, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz – evoke grief and pain... In Vitebsk, one of these was the 5th Regiment (Stalag No. 313), created to exterminate prisoners of war and civilians. Until February 1944, it was used by the occupiers as a transit camp. Every year on April 11, the International Day of the Liberation of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps, we gather at this mournful place to say that our memory is immortal, it lives in our hearts, – noted the Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Subbotin.
The head of the region emphasized that the memory of the war is the memory of the people, their present and future, their national identity. Eighty years separate us from the terrible events of the Great Patriotic War, but contemporaries and the younger generation must know the truth about those atrocities and losses.
– And now, as new data about the genocide of Belarusians during the war emerges, we can respond to the challenges of our time with arguments. One of the latest horrifying discoveries is burial pits found near Lepel. It has been preliminarily established that the remains belong to several hundred people, – added Alexander Subbotin. – Today, child prisoners are the last living witnesses of brutal fascist terror. We bow our heads to those who endured, withstood the most terrible trials, passed through their lives with dignity, and made a significant contribution to the formation of modern and independent Belarus.
Among those gathered at the rally is Evdokia Kolosova, a minor prisoner of war. One of her first photographs was taken by the commandant of a fascist camp-prison in Germany. The German seal is on the back. The commandant repeatedly asked the mother to give him her younger daughter, wanting to take her into his family. But she flatly refused.
"We ended up in the German city of Bad Rappenau, and the prisoners were immediately housed in a camp-prison. Children and women performed hard labor, repairing and building railways. We didn't know what bread was, we were given incomprehensible slop with hardtack. As the youngest, they left me turnips, which I managed to get when people were led back to the camp through the fields. Perhaps thanks to this, I survived," recalls Evdokia Kolosova.
The leadership of the region and city, representatives of labor collectives, educational institutions, and public organizations, witnesses of those terrible events, and youth laid flowers and wreaths at the memorial and honored the memory of the victims of fascism with a moment of silence.