The Khatyn Memorial Complex: where it is, what it looks like

The Great Patriotic War left a terrible mark on the Belarusian land and in the hearts of all its inhabitants. About it, and to this day, many monuments, erected on the territory of the whole republic, resemble. But perhaps the most famous and popular among tourists is the place in Logoisk district of the Minsk region, where the Khatyn memorial complex is located. It became a symbol of the great tragedy and endless courage of the Soviet people, who managed to defend their independence in a deadly struggle.

How it was

1943 year, 22 March. In a small village Khatyn (only 26 households), the fascists burst and began to drive all its inhabitants to the collective farm shed. They were old men, women, children, who did not know that the night before the guerrillas had fired at the German motorcade and killed the officer. The shed was doused with gasoline and set on fire. The people in it began to choke with smoke. They pushed the door and ran. Parents tried to save the children, but all was in vain. Fascists shot everyone who managed to get out of the barn. 149 civilians died on that terrible day. And the village itself was burned to the ground, and now only the memorial complex points to the place where Khatyn is located.

Live witnesses to the tragedy

Only four children and one adult managed to escape then. Two girls quietly reached the forest, where they found peasants from a neighboring village. But soon they were killed in the destruction of the fascists. Khvorosteni - the place where Khatyn is located - serves as a reminder of the six hundred and twenty-eight villages whose inhabitants were also burned alive.

Seven-year-old Vitya Zhelobkovich covered her body with a dying mother. He lay under the corpse until the Germans left and remained alive. And the 12-year-old Anton Baranovsky, wounded in the leg, was punished by punishers for the dead. The boys were picked up and left by peasants from neighboring villages.

From adults, only Joseph Kaminsky, a local blacksmith, escaped. The fifty-six-year-old man woke up in the middle of the night and found his son. But a wound in the stomach and severe burns were fatal. The boy died in his father's arms. This figure of the blacksmith rises on the way to the place where the Khatyn memorial is located.

Construction of the complex

The decision to perpetuate the memory of the Belarusian villages destroyed by the fascists was taken in 1966. Soon they announced a competition for the best project, in which architects Levin L., Gradov Yu, Zankovich V. and sculptor S. Selikhanov won together. Together they came up with a model of the Khatyn complex, where besides the village itself there are several interrelated expositions.

In the summer of 1969, the solemn opening of the memorial took place, in the construction of which the entire Soviet country took part. And since then it is one of the most magnificent monuments to the victims of war.

Location of the Khatyn memorial complex

Where is the monument? Almost every adult in Belarus will answer this question.

Highway Minsk-Vitebsk, the 54th km. Immediately at the entrance there is a photo-documentary exposition, in each of the four rooms of which there are incontrovertible evidence of the atrocities of the fascists.

In the center of the first part of the memorial, which is a layout of the village of Khatyn, towers "Unconquered Man". This six-meter bronze sculpture, the only one in the complex. To her right is the roof of the shed, in which people burned alive. To the left is a mass grave with a memory crown and broken words: the conversion of the fallen and living to each other.

Part of the complex, where the village of Khatyn is located

The developers of the memorial have placed on this territory 26 symbolic yards. On the site of each house there is a carved log structure and an obelisk reminiscent of a chimney with a sign (it shows the names of the dead) and a bell. The latter call at the same time twice a minute. The gate leading from the courtyard to the street, laid out with gray slabs, is always open (a sign of the cordiality of the dead masters). The picture is complemented by four symbolic wells installed on the ground of their real existence.

"Cemetery of villages"

185 ashes, in the center of each - the language of the flame and the urn with the earth. And the name of the village and the district where it was located. After the war in Belarus, 186 settlements were not restored, including Khatyn (where the entire memorial complex is located). About them and reminds the only "cemetery of villages" in the whole world.

Another element of the complex is the "trees of life", on which the names of 433 villages are knocked out, which during the war years suffered the same fate. But unlike the first, they were revived to life.

In memory of all the dead Belarusians

Equally important is the part of the Khatyn complex where the "Wall of Remembrance" and the Eternal Flame are located.

Martyrdom during the war was taken by every fourth inhabitant of the republic. This is reminiscent of the four deepenings next to the Eternal Flame: only three of them, as a symbol of survivors, grow birches. And on the "Wall of Memory" the names of the places of mass annihilation of people and concentration camps have been knocked out - there are 260 of them.

How to get there

From Minsk to the place "Khatyn", where the historical and memorial complex is located, you can go on a sightseeing bus. To do this, contact the travel agency (bureau). You can buy tickets at the station. The advantages of this option is that the trip will be accompanied by a story of a professional guide.

There will be no difficulties for those who decide to get to Khatyn on their own transport. The signs clearly indicate the road, and the information on the official site will allow you to get acquainted in advance with the mode of operation of the photodocumental exposure and the interactive map of the complex.

Not far from the Khatyn memorial there are its branches: Dalva (on the site of the burned village) and Kurgan of Glory (dedicated to the completion of the operation to liberate the republic from the enemy).