Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko together with the presidents of Germany and Austria Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Alexander Van der Bellen visited the Trostenets Memorial Complex on 29 June where a requiem rally dedicated to the memory of Nazism victims took place, BelTA has learned.
On the way to the memorial graveyard Blagovshchina where the requiem rally took place the heads of state had to go past the architectural structures designed to look like the wagons, in which people were brought to the death camp during the war. One can see lit oil lamps and flowers in the windows of these wagons. The phonogram is composed of sounds of an oncoming train, voices of people speaking different languages, and children cries.
As part of his speech during the requiem rally the Belarusian head of state called for a moment of silence. The presidents of Germany and Austria, other visiting dignitaries spoke about the importance of remembering the lessons of history. An address by Poland President Andrzej Duda was read out.
The musical episode Minute of Memory and Sorrow was presented before participants of the requiem rally. It was designed to symbolize the memory about victims of the Nazi atrocities and appeal for preventing a repeat of that dreadful war. An ensemble of violinists recited poetry and performed music. White doves were released into the sky at the end of the ceremony and the president of Belarus and the visiting dignitaries laid flowers at the commemorative slab of the memorial graveyard Blagovshchina.
Trostenets was one of the largest death camps set up by the Nazi to eliminate civilians in 1941-1944. It was the fourth largest death camp after Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Treblinka in terms of the number of victims. Residents of Belarus, other USSR republics, deported citizens of Western European countries, including Austria, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, perished in this death camp. The official death toll exceeds over 200,000 people from various countries.
On 8 June 2014 Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko took part in the ceremony to place a time capsule at the site of the future Trostenets Memorial Complex. Alexander Lukashenko stressed that the Trostenets Memorial Complex should become a place of pan-European importance.
The memorial complex consists of several locations where the Nazi invaders slaughtered people during World War Two: the Trostenets death camp, the Shashkovka site (a pit crematorium), and the Blagovshchina site (34 mass graves).
The first stage of the complex and the memorial sculpture Gate of Memory were opened at the site of the former death camp on 22 June 2015. The memorial graveyard Blagovshchina was accomplished as part of the second stage of the Trostenets Memorial Complex. A ceremony to bury remains of Nazism victims, which had been found in the course of construction work, was arranged there on 25 June 2018.
Written by belta.by
