Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus H.E. Mr Andrei Rzheussky at the webinar to commemorate 80 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War held on June 22:
"For me it is a great pleasure to take part in today’s webinar discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War – the most tragic period throughout the entire history of all our nations, including the Republic of Belarus.
As all of you know, Belarus was the first Soviet Republic to confront the enemy due to its geographical position and strategic location. At the time of the attack on June 22, 1941, around 8 thousand Soviet soldiers were deployed in the Brest Fortress. This battle became fierce and protracted, lasted for many days. The defense of the Brest Fortress set an example of courage and resilience of the Soviet and Belarusian people in standing for their freedom and independence.
Being totally occupied by the foreign invaders, Belarusian people never stopped fighting. They struggled in the rows of the Red Army, in partisan detachments and underground resistance groups. Victory over the enemy in the Great Patriotic War was achieved at the cost of great sacrifice and huge loss of lives among Belarusian people.
Over 1.4 million citizens were killed in the territory of Belarus in more than 260 places of so-called concentration camps. Nearly each third citizen of Belarus died during the war time. Over 200 towns and communities out of existing 270 and almost 90 percent of buildings in capital city Minsk were ruined. More than 9 thousand villages were completely swept away/demolished. No other single country had suffered such a human loss in terms of the proportion of the population.
The Nazi invaders left behind them trails of murder, looting, unprecedented destruction in the territory of Belarus. They planned to entirely annihilate Belarusian nation, plunder its national wealth and dismantle the political system of the country.
Thye (the Nazis) deliberately destroyed or barbarically plundered research centers, cultural institutions and educational establishments. Many Belarusian, Russian and Western European masterpieces were taken away. Only a small part of the above cultural heritage has been returned to Belarus. Today, about 1 million volumes of books are still missing. Numerous monuments in each city, town and village of Belarus are silent reminders of those terrible times.
It was joint efforts of the anti-Hitler coalition and Resistance fighters that defeated the fascist Germany and its allies. One should always remember, that it was Soviet Red Army, Soviet people (all nationalities of Soviet Union) who crushed the main forces of the fascist military machine with the assistance of Western countries coalition.
Regretfully, numerous attempts are being made recently to rewrite and distort history, to whitewash Nazism and justify its horrendous crimes.
Today’s generation must know the objective truth about that war, to realize the danger to world peace being posed by those who try to glorify fascism. Otherwise, the world may again confront a new global war in which there will be no winners at all.
The lessons of that tragic period in our civilization’s history should be evaluated objectively. We need to make every effort to unite the world on the basis of equality, mutual respect and universal democratic values.
📽 https://youtu.be/se6F4p4dp1E
Full text ➡️ https://fb.watch/6i-FsTalho/
"For me it is a great pleasure to take part in today’s webinar discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War – the most tragic period throughout the entire history of all our nations, including the Republic of Belarus.
As all of you know, Belarus was the first Soviet Republic to confront the enemy due to its geographical position and strategic location. At the time of the attack on June 22, 1941, around 8 thousand Soviet soldiers were deployed in the Brest Fortress. This battle became fierce and protracted, lasted for many days. The defense of the Brest Fortress set an example of courage and resilience of the Soviet and Belarusian people in standing for their freedom and independence.
Being totally occupied by the foreign invaders, Belarusian people never stopped fighting. They struggled in the rows of the Red Army, in partisan detachments and underground resistance groups. Victory over the enemy in the Great Patriotic War was achieved at the cost of great sacrifice and huge loss of lives among Belarusian people.
Over 1.4 million citizens were killed in the territory of Belarus in more than 260 places of so-called concentration camps. Nearly each third citizen of Belarus died during the war time. Over 200 towns and communities out of existing 270 and almost 90 percent of buildings in capital city Minsk were ruined. More than 9 thousand villages were completely swept away/demolished. No other single country had suffered such a human loss in terms of the proportion of the population.
The Nazi invaders left behind them trails of murder, looting, unprecedented destruction in the territory of Belarus. They planned to entirely annihilate Belarusian nation, plunder its national wealth and dismantle the political system of the country.
Thye (the Nazis) deliberately destroyed or barbarically plundered research centers, cultural institutions and educational establishments. Many Belarusian, Russian and Western European masterpieces were taken away. Only a small part of the above cultural heritage has been returned to Belarus. Today, about 1 million volumes of books are still missing. Numerous monuments in each city, town and village of Belarus are silent reminders of those terrible times.
It was joint efforts of the anti-Hitler coalition and Resistance fighters that defeated the fascist Germany and its allies. One should always remember, that it was Soviet Red Army, Soviet people (all nationalities of Soviet Union) who crushed the main forces of the fascist military machine with the assistance of Western countries coalition.
Regretfully, numerous attempts are being made recently to rewrite and distort history, to whitewash Nazism and justify its horrendous crimes.
Today’s generation must know the objective truth about that war, to realize the danger to world peace being posed by those who try to glorify fascism. Otherwise, the world may again confront a new global war in which there will be no winners at all.
The lessons of that tragic period in our civilization’s history should be evaluated objectively. We need to make every effort to unite the world on the basis of equality, mutual respect and universal democratic values.
📽 https://youtu.be/se6F4p4dp1E
Full text ➡️ https://fb.watch/6i-FsTalho/