Burning Villages: Commemorating Little-Known Tragedies Like Khatyn

We begin a series of publications about little-known Belarusian villages that shared the tragic fate of Khatyn. A story that must not be allowed to fade.

➡️The first publication in the series is dedicated to the village of Khmelevschina in Malorita District, Brest Region.

On October 23, 1942, punitive forces surrounded the village early in the morning under the pretext of fighting partisans. Villagers were driven to the edge of the settlement and shot—128 civilians: 28 men, 40 women, and 60 (!) children. After the massacre, the village was burned, and property and livestock were taken to the nearby village of Oltush.

🗣From local residents' memories:

Fascists entered every house, forced everyone out, and lined them up in a single row, ordering infants to be brought along. Then they drove them beyond the village, gave shovels to the men, and ordered them to dig a pit. People realized what it was for. There was a terrible noise, women wept, children cried.

Crimes of the Nazis against humanity have no statute of limitations!