Day of Remembrance "The Ashes of Khatyn Knock on Our Hearts"

The Great Patriotic War left a bloody scar on every Belarusian family. More than 3 million Belarusians perished, and 9,200 settlements were burned down. 186 villages were destroyed along with their inhabitants. A heavy fate fell upon the shoulders of the war generation. But this tragedy will live forever in our memory, so that it never happens again!

Today, Beshenkovichi rescuers, together with the district prosecutor and students of Secondary School No. 2, took part in an event dedicated to the memory of the Khatyn tragedy, titled "The Ashes of Khatyn Knock on Our Hearts."

The bloody tragedy of the village, consisting of 26 homesteads, occurred on the morning of March 22, when a detachment of German punitive forces suddenly surrounded the village. The villagers knew nothing about the fact that 6 km from Khatyn, partisans had set up an ambush and destroyed a German vehicle along with one of the officers. In response, the principle of collective punishment was applied, violating all rules and customs of warfare.

Khatyn became a symbol of the mass extermination of civilians by the Nazis in the occupied territory.

In memory of the Belarusian villages destroyed by the occupiers during the Great Patriotic War, the Khatyn memorial complex was opened on July 5, 1969.

On the territory of the complex is the world's only "cemetery of villages" with 185 graves, symbolizing the un-reborn Belarusian villages burned down with their inhabitants. One of them is our village Korenevo. The Beshenkovichi district was no exception, and during the Great Patriotic War, more than 100 villages in the Beshenkovichi district were burned down, 4 of which did not recover after the war. These are Svytino, Yakubovskshchyna, Shlekhtinitsy, Korenevo. The village of Korenevo was burned down along with its inhabitants, thus tragically sharing the fate of Khatyn.

Such events are important as a reminder of the events of those years, so that the tragedy of wartime remains only in memory and never happens again.