Memory of the Burned Villages

A book and documentary exhibition titled "Memory of the Burnt villages" has been produced by the National library of Belarus in collaboration with the National archive of the Republic of Belarus to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Khatyn catastrophe.

Although a lot of time has passed since the Khatyn tragedy, interest in it has not diminished. New publications, documentaries, gallery exhibits, and pieces of art all support this. The fate of the village of Khatyn became a symbol of countless victims, sufferings and courage of the Belarusian people in the Great Patriotic War.

The book and documentary exhibition "Memory of the Burned Villages" allows us to recall the tragic circumstances of the death of residents of the village of Khatyn, which echoes in many voices in the fate of thousands of other burned Belarusian villages.

The exhibition features original archival documents of Belarusian partisan formations and German punitive bodies that testify to crimes against the civilian population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. Among the exhibits are thematic book publications: reference books, albums, scientific, popular science and literary and artistic books.

The central place in the exhibition is occupied by publications of the series "Archive. History. Memory", revealing in detail the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices against the peaceful population of the village of Khatyn: "Khatyn: tragedy and Memory: documents and materials" (2014), "Khatyn Necropolis: documents and materials" (2014), "Khatyn Trees of Life: Documents and Materials" (2015), "The Khatyn Wall of Memory: Documents and Materials" (2016), "Khatyn. On the way to recognition: documents and materials" (2019). Recent publications on this topic include collections of documents "Without a Statute of Limitations" (2022) and "Murderers of Khatyn" (2022). They contain documents of partisans and local residents, German requests and reports on the events of the tragic day, materials of witnesses, acts and lists of victims of the Khatyn tragedy, as well as war criminals who suffered well-deserved punishment in the post–war period.

Among the collected books from the library's collection is the illustrated encyclopedia of burnt villages in Belarus "You Can't Forget. You can't understand it. It cannot be justified", prepared as part of the All-Belarusian campaign "Belarus Remembers" (2019). The pain, grief and memory of the Khatyn tragedy are also presented at the exhibition thanks to works of Russian literature and art.

In memory of the victims of fascism, the Khatyn memorial complex was created in 1969. A number of materials representing the memorial site, which is visited not only by residents of Belarus, but also by citizens of dozens of countries around the world, are on display. And each of them takes with them, without even realizing it, a small light of the great memory of the Belarusian people. After all, without the memory of the past, there is no future.

The books presented in the exhibition can be ordered through the electronic catalog of the National Library of Belarus.
For more info: (+375 17) 293 29 80.