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 (/bɛləˈruːs/; Belarusian: Беларусь [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ]; Russian: Беларусь [bʲɪlɐˈrusʲ]), officially the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Рэспубліка Беларусь; Russian: Республика Беларусь) and formerly known as Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), 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.

...

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)

About the Author 

What I learned from visiting Auschwitz in Poland, And About Anne Frank

Flag of Poland. White above red.

Not to be confused with  the flags of Singapore and Indonesia.

Flag of Singapore. Red above white. Has the crescent, a reminder that Singapore was once part of Malaysia.

Plain red above white.
Flag of Indonesia.

The first thing a Polish guide will want to tell you is that Auschwitz may be on Polish soil but it was not run by the Poles.


It was run by the NAZI party of German when Poland was occupied by Germany in WWII.



Auschwitz is the German name for the small Polish village on the outskirts of Krakow. Quaint, historic Krakow, the former Krakow, is a pretty little town, the former capital in the south of Poland. The Germans invaded and could easily capture the small city near their border, quicker and easier than capturing the larger city of Warsaw further away. That's the reason why over-run Krakow was preserved by the Nazis, whilst Warsaw was destroyed in the war.

Auschwitz, the camp, was outside the new German HQ in Poland, and less time and effort to transport the prisoners there.

I put off visiting Poland and Auschwitz for years because I thought it would be too upsetting. I was right.

One of the things I learned, was they showed a couple of photos of people taken on the day they arrived and three months later. The reason for the numbers tattooed onto inmate's arms was that people's faces were so thin, and lined and haggard, so different, that after 3 months you could no longer recognize them from their original identity photo.


Anne Frank

Anne Frank, her sister, Margot and mother and father were in Auschwitz.

Children under the age of 15 were killed on arrival. Anne was 15 so she survived the first selection, and was set to work, like the rest of the family. The mother died there, giving her meagre rations to her two daughters.

Anne and her sister survived Auschwitz and were sent to Bergen Belsen in German when the Germans retreated. Anne and Margot died in Bergen Belsen.

Their father survived. He later married a woman who had lost her spouse and offspring in the war. They had met regularly in the weeks after the end of WWII searching, for news of their families at the centre giving news of people found dead and alive.

Anne Frank's father moved from The Netherlands to Switzerland and his stepdaughter to London, England. She and her husband lived in Edgware where I grew up. I did not know that until after he died. The family kept a low profile.

Why no mention of Anne Frank in Auschwitz? Because the authorities do not want to single out one person but tell the stories of all. Because Anne Frank's possessions are elsewhere, in the Netherlands. She is already well documented in her WWII hiding place, now a museum in Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands; in Frankfurt, Germany, in the Jewish museum; and in the USA Anne Frank Centre.

Birkenau Birkenau I was advised that to understand what happened at Auschwitz you must visit Birkenau, just down the road. Yes, you must. In the first museum its is like a house of horrors boarding school.

Birkenau is totally different. fields. Huge hangars. Going on for miles.

This huge hangar in a field surrounded by barbed wire was for the French. The next huge hangar in the next field was for the Dutch. The next huge hangar for the italians. Stretching as far as you can see. All destined for death.

Stretching as far as you can see for all the nationalities and languages. Into the distance. Suddenly you understand this was not just cruelty to this person and that, but to hundreds, thousands. The trains brought them from all over Europe. Suddenly the map of the railway routes, which I had seen on the outskirts of Munich, at Dachau, were not just a plan of railway lines, but a horror of wiping out people in every country of Europe, an entire continent.

Belsen Anne's family had left Germany to live in Holland. Finally, those who survived Auschwitz, returned to Germany, to die in Belsen.

Saviour Schindler Let's end on a lighter note. The museum in Krakow in the factory connected with Schindler tells about those he saved. Every story is of gratitude, to the saviour, Schindler. A person who survived. In a sea or sorrow, one beacon of light, a lifeboat.

Poland's Trails Also in Poland, see the Jewish museum in Warsaw and do a Jewish tour. Visit Bialystock and learn about Zamenhof and his new language of Esperanto.

More trails tell you about Chopin and Copernicus.

Places to visit
Anne Frank house, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Auschwitz, Poland
Bergen Belsen, Germany
Anne Frank Foundation, USA


Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands



Statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, The Netherlands



Anne Frank Center USA

Useful Websites

Poland
https://www.pot.gov.pl/en/information-about-the-polish-tourism-organisation/polish-tourism-organisation-international-offices
https://poland.pl/tourism/
Krakow
https://www.visitacity.com/en/krakow
https://www.muzeumkrakowa.pl/branches/oskar-schindlers-factory
Auschwitz
https://www.viator.com/Krakow-tourism/d Anne Frank
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/CAICnOLtC0lDLg?

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See later post about Auschwitz
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Where To See Statues, Monuments and Churches of Cyril Who Created Cyrillic Writing

Problem
I know about St Cyril who is credited with devising the alphabet (see previous post), but I can't get to Bulgaria on May 24th to see the celebration of St Cyril. Where else can I go and what will I see?

Places to go this year or next on May 24th (and any time soon)
1 Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia, the capital, on May 24th, see the ceremony and procession leading to the decorated statues of the two saints outside the National Library. Flower displays are attached to supports like wreaths and placed at the base of the statues. VIPs of the church and the government are prominent in the proceedings. May 24th is a National holiday with more ceremonies and celebrations of Bulgarian culture are held in other cities and towns.

Icons of the two saints are in every church so you can see them everywhere all year.

2 Rome, Italy
St Cyril is buried in Rome at the Basilica of San Clemente.

3 Thessaloniki, Greece
Birthplace of Saint Cyril and his older brother Methodius.
See the church dedicated to them.
See the monument donated by Bulgaria.

What if you are not in Bulgaria or Russia or Italy on the day of the celebration? Still see the statues. more statues worldwide and churches and religious buildings in the USA and elsewhere.

4 Prague, Czech Republic

Statue of the brothers on the Charles Bridge. Everybody goes there. The busy pedestrian bridge has dozens of statues, plus musicians, cartoonists, food and drink stalls and sellers of souvenirs and jewellery and si overlooking the road leading to the Kafka Museum. The statues of the brothers are on the north side of the bridge. (See link to wiki below.)

I am sure I took a photo of their statue. However, I can't find it quickly so I shall instead use a picture form Wikipedia.

 Statue of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius on the Charles Bridge in Prague, from Wikipedia.

5 Kiev, capital of Ukraine
Statue of the brothers.

Statue of the brothers Saint Cyril and Saint Methods in Kiev, capital of Ukraine. Photo from Wikipedia, author of photo by Yuriy Kolodin.

6 St Cyril Church, Prague
Where you learn about the last stand of those involved in the 1942 WWII assassinating Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, called The Butcher of Prague. Seven men took refuge and when they realised they could not escape, took their own lives.
See the You tube video with pictures of the place, music and texts. See the church.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_BqCBzHHDI
See a short harrowing documentary about actions and fate of the assassins and families who helped them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmfVUmGENAw

7 St Cyril Church, Kiev
Distinctive green roof. Listed as one of the places to see before you die.

Tips
More information from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statues_of_Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius,_Charles_Bridge

Flights to Europe

http://www.aeroflot.com/ru-en (Russian)
www.bulgaria-air.co.uk/
https://www.cheapflights.co.uk/find-flights/to-Ukraine
www.lastminute.com
www. ryanair.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Cyril and Cyrillic writing, Italy, Prague and Czech Republic, Kafka Museum and more. Please share links to your favourite posts.