Events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the release of prisoners of the Ozarichi death camp were held at the National Library of Belarus, on 18 March.
The organizers are the National Library of Belarus, Johannes Rau International Centre for Education and Exchange, and the Understanding International Public Association.
In March 1944, near the rural settlements of Ozarichi, Dert and Podosinnik, the 9th Wehrmacht Army organized three temporary camps, also known as the “Ozarich death camp”. From 9000 to 13000 prisoners were killed, including women, children and old people.
Christoph Rass, professor of the University of Osnabrück (Germany), and Adam Kerper-Fronius, researcher at the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, told about the history of the Ozarichi death camp and its place in the German cultural memory.
The book Polesie: tragedy and memory: crimes of the Wehrmacht. The Ozarichi Concentration Camp, 1944 (Полесье: трагедия и память. Преступления вермахта. Концлагерь «Озаричи», 1944 год) written by Ozarichi prisoners Arkady Shkuran and Mikhail Sinkevich was presented. A copy of the book was donated to the National Library of Belarus.
The event was attended by Roman Motulsky, director of the National Library of Belarus; Peter Dettmar, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Belarus; Alexander Opimakh, deputy head of the Main Department of Multilateral Diplomacy, head of the Global Policy and Humanitarian Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus; Astrid Zam, executive director of the International Centre for Education in Dortmund; Angelica Anoshko, chair of the Understanding International Public Association; Alexander Dolgovsky, deputy director of the Historical Workshop named after Leonid Levin, Johannes Rau International Centre for Education and Exchange in Minsk; authors of the book; volunteers of the "Redemption Campaign. Service for Peace" Association; representatives of the "Echo of War" Belarusian Association of Union Ex-Prisoners of Fascism, as well as journalists and general public.
The event featured an exhibition of about 30 documents from the National Library’s collection, including books based on prisoners’ memoirs; memoirs of the general of the 65th army, Pavel Batov, whose divisions released the Ozarichi camp; documents of Nurnberg trials concerning war crimes and crimes against humanity, and scientific papers on this issue.
The exhibition modules “Ozarich Death Camp” opened, in continuation of “The Trostenets Death Camp. History and Memory ”exposition.
The exhibition runs in the atrium, 2nd floor, until March 31, 2019.
The closing date may be changed.
The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Admission is by library card or by ticket of the library's social and cultural center. Information and tickets may be obtained at the registration desk.
For more info: (+375 17) 293 28 81.
Е-mail: pr@nlb.by
Public Relations Department
Find out more:
Belarus 1 TV channel Book Dedicated to the 75th Anniverasry of the Liberation of Ozarichi Death Camp Was Presented in Minsk
STV channel’s report and out photo report:
