Opinions & Interviews

Opinion: Belarusians have survived as a nation thanks to memory about ancestors’ feats

USHACHI DISTRICT, 4 May (BelTA) – We have survived as a nation because we cherish the memory of the heroism of our ancestors who died in battles, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said as he attended an event to mark the 75th anniversary of breaking the enemy’s blockade by partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone in Ushachi District during the Great Patriotic War and the 45th anniversary of the Proryv [Breakthrough] Memorial, BelTA has learned.

“We are here, on this holy land, to pay tribute to the immortal feat of our ancestors, partisans. who 75 years ago broke the Nazi blockade. The memorable dates that we celebrate these days of May are important for every Belarusian,” Vladimir Andreichenko said

Several thousand participants who took part in the operation to break the blockade remained lying in this land forever. They gave their lives to the Motherland and the next generations who must remember the dear price the ancestors paid for their right to live, raise children, make plans for the future. “We owe those who died at the front and in the rear, who survived and rebuilt the country forever,” Vladimir Andreichenko noted.

Vladimir Andreichenko expressed gratitude to the war veterans, noting that they remain an example of adamantine courage. They are the ones from whom the following generations draw powers and the will to develop the sovereign Belarus. “We have survived as a nation because we keep memory about the feats of our ancestors who fell in the battlefields,” the speaker of the lower house of parliament said.

Ushachi District is celebrating the 75th anniversary of breaking the enemy’s blockade by partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone and the 45th anniversary of the Proryv Memorial. A football pitch at the sports center in Ushachi will be officially opened as part of the celebrations. The festivities will wrap up with a concert.

The Proryv Memorial in Ushachi District is considered to be one of the most important examples of monumental art of the BSSR. It was unveiled in June 1974 at the site where the enemy’s blockade was broken through by partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone, some 7km away from Ushachi, on 5 May 1944. Sixteen partisan brigades led by future Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lobanok broke through the blockade and fought the enemy until the Soviet Army approached. More than 15,000 civilians were liberated then. The restoration works at the memorial started in 2015. The memorial was reopened on 9 May 2016.  

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