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Belarus' Khatyn Memorial draws visitors from over 100 countries in 2020

An archive photo

MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) – People from more than 100 countries visited the Khatyn Memorial Complex in Belarus in 2020, director of the complex Artur Zelsky told the STV TV channel, BelTA has learned.

“When I give a tour to school and university students, I recommend that they visit Khatyn several times in their life. Not all school students can get their mind around what happened here. When they grow older and have kids, they will understand the scope of the tragedy of this place,” Artur Zelsky noted. “When a young mother walks up to the obelisk and sees how young the children were: two years, five, seven years, seven weeks, she hugs her child closer. She is starting to understand all that horror and unconsciously wants to protect her child, just like the mothers from Khatyn, Shaulichi, Shunevka tried to save theirs,” he added.

The village of Khatyn was destroyed by the Nazis 78 years ago. On 22 March 1943, they burned almost all villagers alive: 149 people, including 75 children. The memorial complex at the site of the burned village is a symbol of countless victims and sufferings, courage of the Belarusian nation during the Great Patriotic War. Hundreds of Belarusian villages suffered the fate of Khatyn.

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