IVANOVO DISTRICT, 10 August (BelTA) – A memorial sign at the burial site of Polish partisans of the Tadeusz Kosciuszko unit who died during the Great Patriotic War was unveiled in Ivanovo District, BelTA has learned.
The memorial sign in the shape of a Catholic cross has been installed in the Voshchin forest near the village of Balandichi, in the frontier belt. It was here, near the state border with Ukraine, that six Polish partisans were executed by Ukrainian nationalists in 1943. The youngest was 18 years old, the oldest - 34.
The burial place was found following the interviews of local residents as part of the investigation of the criminal case into the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to Belarusian and Polish searchers, it was possible to establish the names of the dead partisans.
The memorial sign project was financed by two private organizations of Ivanovo district. The adjacent territory was landscaped by joint efforts of the local community.
The ceremony to inaugurate the memorial sign was attended by the Ivanovo District authorities, representatives of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee, law enforcement agencies, the Pinsk branch of the Union of Poles, war veterans, young people and the public. “Unfortunately, we have fewer and fewer witnesses of that time and that pain today. We cannot let our children go through what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers had to face. This is our history, which we must know and preserve,” said Anatoly Tkachuk, chairman of the district executive committee.
During the Great Patriotic War, 16 settlements of the district were subjected to punitive operations of the Nazis and were completely or partially burned. The village of Moshki suffered the fate of Khatyn. Ninety-one monuments and war graves remind everyone of the hardships local residents had to endure during those terrible years. “To preserve the historical truth about the war and its heroes, we will continue our efforts to restore and perpetuate the memory of the dead, regardless of their nationality,” the district head said.
The participants of the ceremony observed a minute's silence to honor the memory of the fighters for freedom and independence of the country. A rifle salute was given to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers. Flowers were laid at the burial place.