Photos

In March of 1943, all 26 homes of this small, traditional village were burned and all 149 people were killed by SS troops. This is one of the many WWII memorials we visited while in Belarus. The site of the former village is now the Khatyn WWII Memorial, which was opened in 1969. The only remaining structures from the original homes were the brick chimneys, which now hold bells that sound occasionally. The only survivor from this village was a man (Josef Kaminski) who was visiting relatives in a nearby village; when he returned home he found that the entire population of the village had been herded into a barn and burned alive. There is a sculpture of the man holding the body of his son, which he recovered from the ruins. Tragically, more than 600 small villages like this one were destroyed during the war, many of which were never repopulated as all the inhabitants perished. Thus, the memorial also houses small red and black “urns,” which are featured in the photograph; each holds a small amount of earth from each of the 618 villages in Belarus that were destroyed during the war. It was very dreary and dark that day, which was appropriate, I think. It was a very memorable and poignant experience.