Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Where to see Memorials to Katyn and Khatyn, in the Belarus Republic, Poland, Russia and Worldwide - And Survivor Stories

 

I was confused about the spelling. Belarussia or Belorussia? It is now the Republic of Belarus. Previously under the Soviets it was  - let's take the Wikipedia comments.

Belarus (/bɛləˈrs/BelarusianБеларусь [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ]RussianБеларусь [bʲɪlɐˈrusʲ]), officially the Republic of Belarus (BelarusianРэспубліка БеларусьRussianРеспублика Беларусь) and formerly known as Byelorussia or Belorussia (RussianБелоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.[12] It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk.

....

Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). 

Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II.[14][15][16] During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources.

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Many countries have hidden histories of massacres. 

For example: Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre.

'On 10 June 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 642 of its inhabitants, including non-combatant women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company.

A new village was built nearby after the war, but President Charles de Gaulle ordered the original maintained as a permanent memorial and museum.

In more recent times we have heard about the Pol Pot massacres, the killing fields in Cambodia. And Nigeria, the conflict .'

The Anne Frank Foundation has an exhibition, showing how the Never Again message still need to be heard.

In a previous post I described the Brest Fortress.

Khatyn, Belarussia.

This was only one of several villages where the buildings were burned and the people were burned to death.



Khatyn memorial, Belarussia.

In Belarus the Bielski brothers led a group of survivors in the woods, of Jews, including children and the elderly, who had escaped. The film is fascinating.

Katyn, Poland

For some chilling survivor stories, read the accounts online from Yad Vashem. 


For light relief, in Belarussia see the Chagall Museum, or the Grandfather Frost Residence.

For light relief in Poland, see the Chopin museum.

Useful Travel Websites (Alphabetically by Country
BELARUS
https://www.belarus.by/en/
https://www.brest-fortress.by/?sec=2
https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/chagall-museum
https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/khatynand hs
(khatyn not to be confused with Katyn
CAMBODIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields_(film)
FRANCE
Fascinating account of survivor of the WW2 massacre in France, how he and a couple of others survived. How do we know who died? Apart from survivors, from relatives who were not there such as his sister who had married and moved away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H%C3%A9bras
JEWISH/WW2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_survivors
POLAND
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre)

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