70th anniversary of the Great Victory

MINSK, 14 April (BelTA) – Officers of the Embassy of Belarus in Germany took part in commemorative events held on 12-13 April to mark the 70^th anniversary of the day when the death camps Buchenwald and Dora Mittelbau were liberated, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA.

On behalf of the diplomatic mission wreaths were laid in the memorial complex Buchenwald at the plaque placed in honor of the dead prisoners and at the monument erected to commemorate Nazi victims in the death camp Dora Mittelbau. A representative of the diplomatic mission met with former death camp prisoner Andrei Moiseyenko, who had come from Belarus to Germany to participate in the commemorative events. Delegations of former death camp prisoners from various parts of the world, representatives of the German parliament, the municipal authorities, German political parties, the diplomatic corps and the general public were present during the ceremony.

The concentration camp Buchenwald was established by the Nazi in 1937. During World War Two it had 136 branches, with prisoners coming from over 50 nations. The total number of prisoners was close to 250,000 people. Of them 56,000 people did not survive the trial.

The concentration camp Dora Mittelbau was established in 1943 as a branch of the concentration camp Buchenwald. Dora Mittelbau prisoners were used as free workforce by a state-owned enterprise that made weapons, including V-1 and V-2 rockets. In 1944 the Nazi converted Dora Mittelbau into an independent death camp with 40 branches that held up to 60,000 prisoners all in all. About 20,000 of them died.