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Search operations to identify unrecorded military burials and war victim burials, and to establish data on the deceased, have been ongoing for decades, but today they hold special significance.
– We must adopt the experience of memory preservation by previous generations and build this work considering new formats and tasks, – emphasized Dmitry Demidov, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, opening the regional seminar on perpetuating the memory of those who died defending the Fatherland and preserving the memory of war victims. – I am convinced that the main burden here lies with local authorities, who act as coordinators in resolving issues of perpetuation. It is our sacred duty to pass this relay of memory to subsequent generations.
Marina Novitskaya, Head of the Main Department of Ideological Work and Youth Affairs of the Regional Executive Committee, spoke about the large-scale tasks of the State Program "Perpetuating the Memory of Those Who Died Defending the Fatherland" for 2021–2025. These include accounting for and maintaining military burials and war victim burials in proper condition, organizing and conducting search operations, and providing free access to information about those who died defending the Fatherland and war victims, and their burial sites.
Today, there are 1637 military burials registered in the Vitebsk region, 154 of which have been registered since the program's implementation began. However, there is still much work to be done – as about three hundred thousand buried defenders are listed as "unknown." Furthermore, active searches for unrecorded civilian burials are underway within the framework of the criminal case investigation into the genocide of the population of Belarus during the war and post-war periods.
Major Aleksandr Kremenevsky, Deputy Commander of the 52nd Separate Specialized Search Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, presented a detailed algorithm for interaction with local executive and administrative bodies and public organizations during the organization and conduct of field search operations. Irina Shishkova, Director of the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Hero of the Soviet Union M.F. Shmyrev, identified problems and solutions for perpetuating the memory of those who died in the defense of the Fatherland and victims of wars, drawing attention to the filling and maintenance of the automated database "Book of Memory. Vitebsk Region" by cities and districts. Their experience in this area was shared by Irina Tarasova, chief specialist of the ideological work and youth affairs department of the Vitebsk District Executive Committee, and Vasily Shatkov, head of the gas supply and gas consumption accounting department of UP "Vitebskoblgaz", head of the search team, member of the public association ROO "Belaya Rus" of UP "Vitebskoblgaz". The presentation by Larisa Brueva, Chairperson of the Council for Interaction of Search Teams of the Vitebsk Region "Poshuk", was met with great interest.
– The memorial plaques of our monuments bear the names of only half of the buried defenders of the Fatherland. Almost as many still need to be identified, – said Larisa Naumovna. – We need to accelerate our work, including clarifying the lists included in the "Book of Memory" for cities and districts.