Khatyn: the history of the tragedy of the Belarusian village

The history of the Great Patriotic War, unfortunately, is rich in tragic events connected with the merciless killing of civilians. The village of Khatyn, the history of its destruction still remain in the memory of the Belarusian people as an incredible act of crimes against humanity. It's scary ... Very scary ... Could Khatyn live ... The history of the tragedy will be briefly outlined in this article.

Khatyn: who burned?

History, especially its controversial moments, after the collapse of the USSR very often becomes the subject of various political speculations. For example, recently a version appeared that the Belarusian village of Khatyn was burned by Ukrainian nationalists who fought against the Red Army. Of course, each version has the right to exist, but historical facts indicate the baselessness of this version. The fact is that certain UPA groups (the battalions Nakhtigal, SS-Galichina) really fought on the side of the fascists, but it is known that there were no detachments of Ukrainian nationalists on this territory.

Hence, there are no other options left, except to say that the village of Khatyn was burnt by the Germans and the Polizei.

Causes of Khatyn's tragedy

On the night before the ill-fated tragic day of March 22, 1943, a partisan detachment was spending the night in the village. Already in itself this fact could anger the fascists and the police. After spending the night, the guerrillas moved to the village of Pleskovichi early in the morning. Here, and there was an event that caused the disappearance of the village from the face of the earth and from geographical maps. On the way our partisans collided with a detachment of policemen, along with whom German officers moved, including the Olympic champion of 1936 Hans Velke. There was a shootout, during which many guerrillas and Germans, including officers, were killed. Among the dead was and the above Olympic champion.

Of course, the partisans did the right thing, that they got involved in the fight with this detachment, because in conditions of direct collision with the enemy, it is impossible to behave differently. The Germans saw them, that is, the command of the fascists came to the information that in this area there is a large detachment of partisans. Such reports usually led to an aggravation of the situation on the site of the territory where the partisans were seen.

What did the Germans come up with?

Such bravery of partisan detachments often ended in grief for the settlements surrounding the place of clashes. Recovering from the battle and quickly remembering the dead, the Germans immediately began to think about revenge. In this German detachment was just one of the most brutal German punishers - Sturmbannfuhrer SS Dirlewanger. Therefore, no soft decision was expected. The Germans decided to act in a traditional way for them: to burn the nearest settlement to the site of the recent battle. It was the village of Khatyn, whose history of tragedy is known to the entire civilized world and serves as a vivid example of the terrible crimes of German fascism against humanity in general and the Belarusian people in particular.

How was the massacre of civilians?

The village of Khatyn is a relatively small settlement in Belarus. The Germans destroyed it on March 22, 1943. Peaceful residents in the morning of this day got up and began to engage in their farming, not suspecting that for the vast majority of them this day will be the last in life. The German detachment appeared unexpectedly in the village. About what will happen now, it became clear to the residents when they were started to be driven not to the square for the ordinary meeting, but to the shed of the former collective farm (incidentally, in some sources there is information that the barn was not a collective farm, but one of the residents of Khatyn Iosif Kaminsky). Mercy was not received by anybody, because they persecuted even sick people who could barely get out of bed. Above such people traitors were mocked before the moment of burning, because all the way sick people to the shed was accompanied by blows of gun rifle butts on the back. Little children also became victims. For example, a resident of Khatyn, Vera Yaskevich, was led into a barn with her son in her arms. He was only 7 weeks old! And how many one-year-old children perished from fascist fire ...

So, the Germans drove all the villagers into this barn, closed the doors of the barn to the bolts. Then, around the perimeter of the shed, mountains of straw were laid and set on fire. The barn, of course, was wooden and caught fire almost immediately. The chances of people surviving on fire were minimal, because in the shed there were three compartments separated by wooden partitions from thick logs. Such is the sad fate of the village called Khatyn. Who burned this settlement now, we hope everyone is clear ... All possible sources, including German military documents and Soviet newspapers of that time, have been analyzed, therefore the German trace is simply obvious.

How many people died?

It is precisely known that before the war in the village there were 26 houses. Proceeding from the fact that many families by modern concepts were large families, it can be calculated that the population of the village could be about 200 people or even more. It is impossible to say exactly about the number of deaths even today, because different sources contain information that contradicts each other. For example, the Germans claim that 90 people were killed. Some Soviet newspapers wrote that the village of Khatyn, whose history of tragedy became immediately known throughout the USSR, lost 150 people. Most likely, the last figure most corresponds to reality. But in any case, in the near future, we are unlikely to know exactly how many people died in the village: history, perhaps, will once set all the points over i in this tragedy. We are well aware that only excavations at the site of the conflagration can bring us closer to the truth.

What does it mean to survive after Khatyn?

Everyone loves life and seeks to live as long as possible and educate their children. The people who burned in the barn fought for themselves. They knew that even if they could escape, the probability of survival was not high, but everyone wanted to escape and escape to the forest from the bullets of fascist guns. Residents of the village managed to tear down the doors of the barn and some of them could run to freedom. The picture was terrible: people in the clothes burning on them looked like a fire running across the field. Punishers saw that these poor Khatyns were doomed to die of burns, but still fired at them from rifles.

Fortunately, some residents of Khatyn managed to survive. Three children in general managed not to get into the barn and hide in the forest. These are children from the family Yaskevich (Vladimir and Sophia, both children born in 1930) and Alexander Zhelobkovich, their peer. Desperate gentleness and quickness saved their lives that day.

Of those in the barn, 3 more survived: the owner of the bloody shed, Joseph Kaminsky, Baranovsky Anton (11 years old) and Zhelobkovich Victor (8 years old). The stories of their salvation are similar, but differ slightly. Kaminsky was able to get out of the barn when fellow villagers tore the doors. He was practically all burnt, he immediately lost consciousness, and came to his senses late at night, when the punitive detachment had already left the village. Vitya Zhelobkovich his mother saved herself, because when they fled from the barn, she held it in front of him. They shot at her in the back. After receiving a fatal wound, the woman fell on her son, who was simultaneously wounded in the arm. Victor was able to survive the injury before the Germans left and the inhabitants of the neighboring village came to them. Anton Baranovsky was wounded in the leg, fell and pretended to be dead.

Khatyn: history is destroyed by the punitive forces

No matter how many official victims, it is necessary to consider still unborn children. We will explain this in more detail. According to official data, 75 children were burned in the shed. Each of them, if they were alive, would have children. Since the migration between settlements was not very active at that time, it is most likely that families would be created between them. The Soviet homeland lost about 30-35 cells of society. Each family could have several children. Also, it should be borne in mind that young girls (guys all were sent to the army) were burned in the barn, that is, potential population losses can be much greater.

Conclusion

The memory of many Ukrainian and Belarusian villages, including a village like Khatyn, whose history ended on March 22, 1943, must always live in society. Some political forces, including those in the post-Soviet space, are trying to justify the crimes of the fascists. We should not go on about these neo-fascist forces, because Nazism and its ideas will never lead to a tolerant coexistence of nations around the world.