Press releases

Partisan Chronicles: Hospitals in the Woods

MINSK, 6 February (BelTA) – The first winter of the Great Patriotic War was particularly harsh for partisans. There were no medicines, no specialists and no proper conditions to treat the injured. The wounded were operated on carts, on the ground, or in dark huts. Partisans used any tools they had available. Hacksaws to amputate limbs, moonshine for anesthesia. The situation started to get better only in the second half of 1942: field hospitals appeared deep in the woods, those badly injured got a chance to survive...

“Partisan Chronicles: Hospitals in the Woods” is a new page of the joint project of BelTA and the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War History. It is dedicated to the war-time medicine and medical workers who risked their own lives to save others during the war.

The project is based on a unique collection of handwritten partisan journals provided by the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War History. The collection was assigned the status of historical and cultural value of international importance (Class 1). Every week BelTA brings these chronicles to light and posts their digital copies. Each of them sheds light on various aspects of partisans’ life, gives a glimpse into thoughts and feelings of people who risked their lives to fight a battle behind enemy lines.

Till 3 July 2019 BelTA will publish digests of these chronicles and upload their digital versions complementing the unique content with photos from its own archives.

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