There are places in the world where the memory of tragic events is eternal. WW2 left an indelible mark on Belarus. Belarus was left behind burned, exhausted and with a loss of one third of its population. People where dying not only in concentration camps, ghettoes or battles, but in usual villages and small towns with innocent people.
For people interested in the history of the Second World War, who visit places of macabre tourism, or for those who simply want to pay tribute to victims fell from the pure evil.
The tour is committed to the hystory of the great Patriotic war, many years of occupation and struggle of the Belarusian people against the invaders. On March 22, 1943, there was a tragedy that became symbolic. The village of Khatyn, located deep in the woods, was burned together its 149 dwellers. Brutalized fascists broke into the village of Khatyn and surrounded it. The villagers knew nothing about the fact that in the morning, 6 km from Khatyn, partisans fired at a convoy of fascists and killed a German officer in the attack. But the Nazis have already passed a death sentence on innocent people. The entire population of Khatyn from the elderly people, women and children were expelled from their homes and driven to the collective farm shed where they all were burnt. From 149 people 3 escaped and 2 survived in a fire. A devastating loss, which was quite common during war period. Khatyn is just one from the huge amount of villages burnt by the Nazi.
On the place of the village architects created a heartbreaking memorial. It creates this feeling because of the planning of the memorial. It precisely repeats the scheme of the former village of Khatyn. The former street of the village is lined with grey , the colour of ashes, concrete slabs. In those places where houses stood once, there are 26 obelisks, resembling chimneys, scorched by fire. On pipes there are bronze plaques with names those who was born and lived here. And from above you can hear sadly chiming of the bells every 30 seconds.
The Memorial architectural and sculptural complex, covering an area of about 50 hectares. The complex consists of several sculptural compositions, obelisks, memorial plaques.
In the centre of the composition stands a six-meter bronze sculpture "Unconquered man" with a murdered child in his arms. Next to it there is a room with the closed granite slabs, symbolizing the roof of the barn, in which the Nazi punishers burned the villagers. On the mass grave of white marble there is the Crown of Memory. Moreover, on the memorial complex Khatyn the only village cemetery in the world exists. And in memory of victims of fascist terror the Eternal flame burns.
And after visiting the Khatyn monument you will see the Mound of Glory, a monument to the soldiers-liberators of Minsk, where you will be able to climb to its top feel the joy of the liberation of the Belarusian land from fascism.
Khatyn is a place that is worth visiting. After visiting the memorial the understanding of “Why Belarusians do not smile very often” will come to you. People live with the ancestral memory of the bloodiest war of the 20th century.
For other questions, please, contact us and our team will help you to organise this individual trip.
