Footsteps of WWII · Russia & Belarus
Khatyn Memorial, Belarus
Memorial · 22 Mar 1943 (memorial 1969)
The story
On 22 March 1943, after a partisan ambush nearby, Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118, made up largely of Ukrainian and other Soviet collaborators, and the SS Dirlewanger unit surrounded the village of Khatyn, about 50 km north of Minsk. They herded the villagers into a barn, set it alight and shot those who broke out, then burned the village. About 149 people were killed, around 75 of them children. The blacksmith Yuzif Kaminsky was the only adult survivor. In 1969 the site became the Byelorussian SSR's national war memorial, designed by Yuri Gradov, Valentin Zankovich and Leonid Levin, and it stands for the hundreds of Belarusian villages destroyed in anti-partisan operations.
What to look for
Concrete outlines of the 26 houses, each with a chimney-shaped bell tower ringing in turn, the bronze 'Unbowed Man' of Kaminsky carrying his dead son, the stylised barn roof over the mass grave, the 'Cemetery of Villages' with 185 symbolic graves, and the wall naming camps and extermination sites in Belarus.
Plan your visit
FCDO advises against all travel to Belarus. Memorial grounds open at all times; the Khatyn museum opens Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–19:00, closed Mondays. About an hour by car from Minsk; no regular public transport. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
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