Khatyn massacre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Khatyn" redirects here. For Katyn, see Katyn massacre.

Statue of the only man from Khatyn to survive the massacre, holding his dead child, by Josef Kaminski (1969).

Khatyn (Belarusian and Russian: Хаты́нь) is a village in Belarus all of whose inhabitants (149 people) were burnt alive by the Nazis with participation of Ukrainian and Belarusian collaborators^[1] from 118th Schutzmannschaft battalion on 22 March 1943.

In the Soviet Union, Khatyn became a symbol of mass killings of the civilian population, which were carried out by the Germans and their collaborators. Hundreds of similar settlements shared the fate of Khatyn in Belarus during World War II. In 1969 it was named the national war memorial of the Byelorussian SSR. Among the best-recognized symbols of the complex is a monument with three birch trees, with an eternal fire instead of a fourth tree, a tribute to the one in every four Belarusians who died at war^[2].

Among foreign leaders who visited Khatyn Memorial during their time in office were Richard Nixon of the USA, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Rajiv Gandhi of India, Yasser Arafat of the PLO, and Jiang Zemin of China^[3].

At least 5295 Belarusian settlements were destroyed by the Nazis and some or all their inhabitants killed (out of 9200 settlements that were burned or otherwise destroyed in Belarus during World War II). 243 Belarusian villages were burned down twice, 83 villages three times, and 22 villages were burned down four or more times in the Vitsebsk region. 92 villages were burned down twice, 40 villages three times, nine villages four times, and six villages five or more times in the Minsk region^[4]. Altogether, 2,230,000 people were killed in Belarus within the three years of German occupation. A quarter of Belarusians died in WWII.^[2]^[5]