It cannot be forgotten, understood, or justified…

Reson rescuers and their family members, as well as representatives of the "Rescuer" veterans organization, visited a previously unknown site of execution and burial of civilians in the Polotsk district.

During the investigation of the criminal case on the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, search operations to locate the execution and burial site of families of underground fighters, Red Army soldiers, and part of the Jewish population began a few kilometers from Polotsk in June of this year.

For two years, prosecutors worked with archival documents. There was some confusion in determining the location. Thanks to the assistance of servicemen from the 52nd Search Battalion and declassified Luftwaffe aerial photographs from the occupation period, the exact time and place of the extermination of civilians were established.

– During the preparatory work, searchers and prosecutors also relied on archival interviews with local residents from 1945. It is still difficult to name a specific number, but it has been established that these were civilians, namely women and children, the elderly and disabled, – noted Sergey Alexandrovich Atrashkevich, Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Polotsk District. – Experts have established that the Nazis committed these atrocities based on the recovered shell casings marked with "CC".

The attendees observed the horrific scene of an open mass grave and familiarized themselves with an exhibition of personal belongings of the deceased and information from archival documents.

– It is very important today to preserve the memory of those terrible events and to tell our younger generation about them, – noted Arkady Gorokhov, Chairman of the Reson District Organization of Veterans of Emergency Services and Units "Rescuer". – By doing so, we will ensure the preservation of historical truth and prevent the recurrence of such tragedies in the future.

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