There is much to celebrate and honor about Belarus's history and past, but that information may be difficult to locate—and especially so in English, judging by what is available in print and on the Web. Belarus's neighbors rarely acknowledge that Belarus has a cultural and linguistic identity. Given that Belarus has been occupied by its neighbors for much of its history, one would think that there would be at least some acknowledgement of Belarus's contributions to regional and world works of art, science, religion, art, language, and so forth. One can hope that some day, national and ethnic parochialism will be overcome and the historical record will be corrected. The current regime ruling Belarus—with its pro-Soviet, pro-Russian (language and culture) and anti-Belarusian (language and culture) perspective—contributes to the delay in the corrections occurring.
Just as the accomplishments of Belarusians are seldom acknowledged (especially as being Belarusian) by Belarus's neighbors, crimes committed by Belarus's neighbors within Belarus are also seldom acknowledged. You are more likely to find Soviet crimes reported on a Polish or German Web site; German crimes reported on a Russian or Polish Web site, and so forth. Access and read enough Web sites and the facts and the truth may actually be revealed! This section of the Web site summarizes some of the recent news articles about crimes committed within the borders of today's Belarus by one or more of the several occupying forces that have taken place over the centuries. . . .
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"A council was established in Minsk on Tuesday [July 21, 2009] for coordinating the work of a group of NGOs to study Communist crimes in Belarus and the efforts to commemorate their victims.The council comprises representatives of several organizations, including the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy party and an opposition youth group called Malady Front. The council also includes the prominent historians Yakaw Basin and Vyachaslaw Siwchyk and Uladzimir Ramanowski of the Memorial group of the Belarusian Voluntary Society for Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection.
The council is open to organizations and individual researchers that study Communist crimes in the country, said Vital Rymashewski, a co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy’s founding committee.
The council is expected to hold at least one meeting every month to discuss events, new research material, contentious issues, and plans, according to Mr. Rymashewski.
Valeryya Charnamortsava, a coordinator of the Pakayanne group, was elected the council’s executive secretary.
Ms. Charnamortsava also manages Project “Repentance” (Pakayanne), a Web site that provides the latest news on the Communist regime’s crimes, recollections by victims, images, videos, and a map of Stalin-era mass execution sites.
Source: Naviny/BelaPAN, July 22, 2009
"The remains of what are probably murdered Poles and others have been discovered buried in the basement of an Orthodox cathedral in Hlybokaye [Glubokoye] (Vitebsk Voblast) in Belarus. The local prosecutor's office has refused to launch an investigation and blames the Nazis, but Belarusian historians say it's probably the site of a Soviet NKVD crime.The remains were discovered by locals a couple of days ago while they were tidying up of the grounds of the Orthodox "Birth of the Holiest Mother of God" Cathedral. Next to the bones were gun shells (from Soviet weapons, including a Nagan-type gun, claims Jaroslav Bernikovich from a local branch of the opposition movement For Freedom), and in the remnants of the clothes - a pack of cigarettes from the Warsaw-based factory Progress. There are dozens of skeletons, so the youngsters stopped digging and called the police," resident Yaroslav Bernikovich said, adding that youths found 21 skulls, including those of children, scraps of clothing, and other items.
"We've discovered 20-30 bodies. There may be more deeper down," stated Father Sarhey Gramyka, the parish priest. Father Gramyka explains that because of the smell, the bones have been covered with earth again. Gazeta Wyborcza has learned unofficially that this was demanded by the local prosecutor's office. Father Gramyka has held a service in remembrance of the victims.
Locals admitted they had never heard of mass executions in the church, which remained active throughout the Soviet and German occupations, but the church is next to the building used by police throughout the Polish, German, and Soviet occupations.
"It is obvious that whole families were executed there, but who they were is unknown," he added. Village prosecutors were investigating the find, the local newspaper's editor Vladimir Skrabatun told AFP, suggesting that "these people could have been victims of events in 1939, when the Soviets took over Glubokoye" which had been previously under Polish occupation.
"The authorities now want to blame the Nazis for the remains. But Germans did not conceal their executions, they had never done that, so this is certainly the Soviet NKVD's handiwork, especially since the bullets are Soviet," historian Ihar Kuznyatsou said, in reference to the Soviet security service.
The Hlybokaye district prosecutor Anatol Servyukou has confirmed for Gazeta Wyborcza that his office is investigating the case. He refused to say why the bones had been reburied without an examination.
'The remnants date back to the Great Patriotic War [World War II] period when Hlybokaye was under German occupation. That's all I can say at this point,' Mr Servyukou told Gazeta Wyborcza.
'These are probably the remains of Polish administration officials, intellectuals, or officers who were arrested by the Soviet NKVD after "Poland's eastern territories" (sic) [that is, Polish occupied Belarus] had been invaded by the Soviets on 17 September 1939,' says Belarusian historian, Ihar Kuznyatsou, who has long researched the activities of the Soviet terror apparatus. According to him, there are witness reports about the Soviet NKVD executing Polish prisoners in Hlybokaye in spring 1940 and summer 1941, shortly before the town was seized by the Germans.
The victioms were probably executed by special Soviet NKVD units sent directly from Moscow. Five such units operated in what is now Belarus. One of them, led by Lt Nikolai Kozhevnikov, operated in Vileyka near Hlybokaye.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka is known to be an admirer of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the creator of the Soviet NKVD [predecessor of the Soviet KGB and Belarusian KGB], who was born in what is now Belarus, and of Joseph Stalin. Belarus is preparing today for grand celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's invasion of Poland, which is to be a great display of the country's unity. In Brest, where the Wehrmacht and the Red Army held a joint parade in September 1939, a monument commemorating the "bright day of 17 September" is to be unveiled.
Andrzej Przewoznik, head of the [Polish?] Council for the Protection of Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom, told Gazeta Wyborcza: We will ask the Belarusian authorities to allow our experts to examine the situation. Perhaps bodies of Soviet NKVD victims have been discovered. I know there was a Soviet NKVD prison nears Hlybokaye. Our collaboration with Belarus has improved in the last couple of years. We're carrying out several joint projects and I hope no one makes things difficult for us in this case.
Compiled, edited, and corrected from the following sources: Gazeta Wyborcza, July 22, 2009, and Polish Radio, July 22, 2009 and Montreal Gazette / Agence France-Presse (AFP), July 22, 2009