On August 23, a group of Belarusians arrived in Katyn Forest (Smolensk, Russia) to commemorate the victims of Stalinist repression.
In the run-up of their arrival lcal representatives of the Communist Party announced their taking measure against the Belarusians who, according to the most popular news website in Smolensk region, were preparing a ‘provocation’.
“Their planned trip is another anti-Russian action that crosses the Soviet period out of our history and to equate the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany, which, in fact, is a revision of the results of the Second World War,” the article reads.
The local police tried to bar Belsat TV journalists Lyubou Lunyova and Ales Silich from entering the memorial complex Katyn. They ‘invited’ the crew to have a talk at the police station. After checking the documents the police decided not to detain anyone.
In the forest, the Belarusians were met by people with Soviet flags and portraits of Stalin:
The representatives of the Communist party made a poster with the white-red-white historical flag of Belarus and the inscription: “Nazis of Poland, you are not welcome in Smolensk!”:
The memorial was opened opened on July 28, 2000. Its construction was financed by Poland and Russia. The Belarusians ‘visit to Katyn was organized by the movement For Freedom and the solidarity movement Together.
On August 23, Europe marks the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.
In 1940, Stalin’s police (NKVD) executed almost 22,000 citizens of Poland. 4,421 persons were shot in Katyn, 6,311 – in Kalinin and buried in Mednoye, 3,820 people were buried in Kharkiv. 7305 people were killed in Ukraine and Belarus. According to some historians, every third shot at Katyn was born in Belarus.
