Opinions & Interviews

PM: Belarus is proud of its people’s feat in Great Patriotic War

MINSK DISTRICT, 4 May (BelTA) - Belarus is proud of the feat of arms of its people during the Great Patriotic War, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko told the media on 4 May, BelTA has learned.

Roman Golovchenko laid flowers at the Blagovshchina war memorial as part of the Belarus Remembers. We Remember Everyone project. Tens of thousands of people, including prisoners of Minsk ghetto and the Trostenets concentration were shot on the site.

“We see from the example of our neighbors that as soon as we start talking less about the deeds of our people during the Great Patriotic War, as soon as we start visiting memorial sites less often and telling children less about these events, all kinds of detractors emerge right away. They pour mud on the Victory marshals, besmirch the feat of the Soviet soldier, question all the achievements of our nations. I am sure that behind such ‘researchers’ there are absolutely clear forces - representatives of so-called soft power. Some of them are pursuing other considerations, in particular clumsy attempts to classify traitors and collaborators as fighters for national liberation,” the prime minister said.

According to him, all these attempts are aimed at tearing the Belarusians away from the past. “It is well known that there is such a notion, ‘mankurts’, which has already become commonplace. This word was coined by the Soviet writer Chingiz Aitmatov to describe a man who became a slave of his master, who took away his memory and idea of who he really is and what his roots are. They are also trying to bring us closer to such a state. We will never allow that, and we will firmly and confidently continue the things we have been doing,” the prime minister stressed.

The head of government expressed confidence that new memorials would be erected on the Belarusian soil. “Someone will say that there are a lot of them already, but they are many compared to what? To more than 10,600 burned villages? During the investigation of the cases of the genocide of the Belarusian people, this number has increased by almost 1,400 more than. I am sure that their number will continue to grow. Is it going to be a lot or not if a monument is erected in each of their places? I think it should be done like this. I am sure what we do not do will be completed by the next generation,” he said.

“Even the very events of today’s life keep us from forgetting it. Just this spring, the remains of a Red Army man who died in the early days of the war while defending the city were found during the repair works of a road near Bobruisk. We managed to find his relatives thanks to the preserved medallion - he was from the Crimea and sent his last letter on 21 June from Bobruisk to his homeland,” the prime minister said.

According to Roman Golovchenko, the remains of more and more defenders of our Motherland - from Brest to Mogilev - are found every year. “We will make sure that our children and the next generation in general get an objective picture of those terrible events that took place on the Belarusian soil - both about the courage and heroism of the Belarusian people and, unfortunately, about the betrayals that took place here. We make appropriate amendments to the curricula, syllabi and teaching materials. We do not impose any templates. Young people will figure out everything. I am sure that each of them will make their own discoveries about this difficult issue based on the example of their family history, the history of their nation, he said.

“We will never succumb to what we are pushed to do - to give up the past, to forget, to forgive and mourn. Yes, we grieve for the victims, but the main ones who should be grieving are those who plant such an agenda on us. We mourn, but we are also proud,” the head of government concluded.

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