Opinions & Interviews

Golovchenko on lessons of Khatyn tragedy: Evil has no nationality

MINSK, 22 March (BelTA) – One of the lessons of Khatyn is that evil has no nationality, Belarus’ Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said during the memory campaign at the Khatyn memorial complex on 22 March, BelTA has learned.

“We thought that such tragedies stayed in the past. But, unfortunately, this does not happen. Since childhood we remember a statement saying that ‘the ashes of Khatyn are beating in our hearts’. But this phrase has a continuation or a consonant statement from historian Karamzin who said: ‘Today we reconsider these words, if we speak about conscience, about the things which move every person in their deeds, in their moral choices’,” Roman Golovchenko said.

He remarked that today, when many archives were made public, we know about the Khatyn tragedy much more than we knew decades ago. “It is not about nationalities. Some people are speculating on this topic and argue who made a bigger ‘contribution’ to the destruction of Khatyn. But evil has no nationality. People involved in those atrocities just made their choice,” the prime minister stressed. He remarked that there were people of different nationalities in the police battalion that burned Khatyn.

“But in general there were Soviet people. And apart from blatant sadists and rascals who, probably, enjoyed themselves doing it, there were traitors moved by their inner considerations: hatred of the Soviet government, the possibility to restore former property rights and so on. But regardless of their motives they became traitors,” Roman Golovchenko added.

The remarked that the history always gives clues. You just need to see and understand them. Treason cannot be justified. Roman Golovchenko drew a parallel with one of the renowned figures of the white immigration, General Anton Denikin, who hated the Soviet government but refused to cooperate with invaders in spite of their threats and humiliation.

According to Roman Golovchenko, the lesson about the moral choice of every person is not the only lesson that we learned from the Khatyn tragedy. “One more conclusion is that you cannot build your happiness in your own country on someone else’s swords,” the prime minister said and explained that today the word “swords” can be used to describe any actions to truckle foreign states.

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