11,700+ Belarusian settlements destroyed by Nazis during WWII, the list being updated

According to official information, at the time of the initiation of the criminal case on genocide, 9,200 Belarusian villages were completely or partially burned during the occupation, of which 186 were completely destroyed (and not revived) along with their inhabitants

Thanks to the investigation, the prosecutors managed to additionally collect information about more than 2.5 thousand previously unknown affected settlements (destroyed completely or partially), among which, according to preliminary data, there are least 270 villages which faced the same fate as Khatyn (which was burnt down to ashes with all its residents).

At the initiative of the Prosecutor General's Office, an interdepartmental working group was established in December 2022 following an order of the Prime Minister. It includes representatives of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (and its History Institute), the National Archive, the Great Patriotic War History Museum, the Education Ministry, relevant ministries and departments, leading universities of the country, employees of the supervisory department. Specialists jointly study the results obtained during the investigation of the criminal case and also develop common approaches to their historical assessment.

The collected data about the affected settlements was sent to the working group for consideration and confirmed by its decision. By now, it is possible to assert that over 11.7 thousand Belarusian villages were completely or partially destroyed during the occupation, and this once again confirms that the scale of the tragedy of the Belarusian people during the war is much wider than it was previously known. The work on the establishment of completely or partially destroyed settlements in the country continues.