Foreign guests are expected to be present at the opening of the memorial complex in the territory of the former Trastsyanets extermination camp. Some of them are about to visit Kurapaty.
As reported earlier, defenders of Kurapaty, the place of Stalin-era executions near Minsk, keep protesting against ‘dancing on the bones’, i.e. opening the restaurant Let’s Go And Eat in the vicinity of the mass grave. Activists first asked the authorities to interfere with the situation, and then decided to act independently. They are trying not to let cars to the territory of the restaurant.
The ceremony in Trastsyanets will begin at 12:00 on June 29. As reported earlier, the presidents of Austria, Germany, Israel, Poland, the Czech Republic may take part in the event.
Instead of the Polish leader Andrzej Duda, the head of his office Krzysztof Szczerski will arrive in Minsk.
The death camp which was established in 1942 operated till the beginning of 1944. According to official data, about 200,000 persons, mainly Jews, were tortured and killed there.
In an open letter to the presidents of Germany, Austria, Poland and Israel, Kurapaty defenders have asked them for solidarity and support. The letter was signed by Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, poets Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, Ales Pashkevich and other political and public figures.
On Friday morning, the activists will be placing crosses not far from the restaurant in Kurapaty. At 18:00 the Together movement will start a solidarity action. At 19:00 everyone who wants to may join and say a prayer for Kurapaty and Belarus.
Belsat will begin to livestream tomorrow’s events in Kurapaty at 10:00.
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Kurapaty, a place on the outskirts of Minsk, is not just the national memorial and a mass grave of the victims of Stalinist repression; since 1993, it has been is a site of historical and cultural heritage. According to historians, 100,000 – 250,000 persons might have been killed there.
