Opinions & Interviews

Call for raising young Belarusians' awareness about nation's tragic past

GRODNO, 19 March (BelTA) – We need to talk more with the youth about the tragic past of our people, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with personnel of the Molochny Mir dairy on 19 March, BelTA has learned.

"We have not talked much to the youth about what our people have endured throughout their history, what sufferings they have experienced," the head of state said.

The topics of glorification of Nazism and genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War were recently discussed at a meeting in Minsk. "They came to our land, they killed people, burned them alive in barns and houses in thousands of villages. It was a true, terrible genocide. They killed Belarusians, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, everyone who lived here,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

"We are putting together the materials, and we will show them to the world, to those who teach us democracy today. It was the genocide of the Belarusian people. Our people went through a lot,” the head of state said. “They invaded our country and destroyed it during the four years of occupation. Imagine the circumstances our people lived in. They were unbearable. They lived in dugouts, they survived the best they could,” he added.

One of the questions was about the anniversary of the 1921 Treaty of Riga which divided the Belarusian lands, with the western part given to Poland. "Even before all these turbulent events [post election] I talked about on many occasions and showed the map of 1921. At one meeting, with the map projected on the wall, I said that I did not want the country to face it again. I had a gut feeling. I didn't have the facts then but I felt they were getting ready to rip us apart. I often said that Belarus is on a geopolitical battle line. Russia cannot lose us. We are the last bastion here."

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