Opinion: Khatyn is part of Belarus’ historical memory, and it will be ever cherished

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the tragedy in the Belarusian village of Khatyn and the beginning of the Volyn massacre in Poland, but the reaction of the two states’ authorities radically differ – as stressed by Vadim Gigin, the Chairman of the Board of the Republican Belarusian Znanie Society, in his talk with Alfa Radio

According to the expert, the topic of the Volyn massacre was promoted in Polish society to ‘incredible scales’ by the Law and Justice Party. “What can we observe now? There is silence. The Volyn massacre began in February 1943. Are there any statements on this on the part of Warsaw, Law and Justice, Duda or Kaczynski? Is there a statement by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada? Have they admitted their guilt for that? Have they taken any measures related to perpetuating the memory of the victims? There is none of this," he stated.

Mr. Gigin added that the Polish authorities simply did not care about what happened. At the same time, Belarus has never forgotten about the tragedy in Khatyn. “The Great Patriotic War was a great test for our people. The enemy, the Nazi occupiers and their minions came, and they wished to completely destroy our people, culture, and state. Our people showed their best qualities and won. Khatyn has become a symbol of pain and tragedy. It is a symbol of the evil that fascism brought with itself,” he stressed.

At the same time, the expert emphasised that every corner of Belarus has its own object, which is a symbol of grief and heroism, “A unique architectural monument has been created in Khatyn. I have not seen a single person who, passing through this path of Khatyn, would come out not shocked. Of course, this is a part of our historical memory, and we will cherish it. We will speak of this openly, and if someone tries to muffle our voice and erase it from our memory, this will not work. Our people have proved it. There have been already several generations after the victory, but we still keep this memory and will cherish it further.”

The Belarus Segodnya Publishing House has created a special multimedia project: Khatyn. 80 Years of Pain – which is available here.