Solemn meeting on occasion of Victory Day

For Belarusians, the truth and the memory of the war are timeless and transcend borders, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a solemn meeting on the occasion of Victory Day in Minsk on 7 May.

"There are many bright pages in our history, of which we are justifiably proud. Not all of them have retained their importance to this day. Many, having lost their former meanings, were simply forgotten. However, there are the dates and events that carry the essence and truth of life. They are timeless, passed down through generations with mother's milk, protect us against mistakes and help build the future. For Belarusians, the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War was such an event," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

The President noted that this is the reason why the updated Constitution enshrines the thesis that "the state shall preserve the historical truth and the memory of the heroic feat of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War.”

"For us, Belarusians, the truth and the memory of the war are timeless and transcend borders," the head of state said. “We remember our anti-fascist friends, the heroes of the Normandie-Niemen regiment, the encounter at the Elbe and other examples of joint fight against the enemy. We share this pride with all those who stood together with us against fascism and who still take pride."

"All the peoples of the Earth should know what an incredibly high price Belarusians alone paid for peace and freedom. Think about it: more than 300,000 of our compatriots were deported to Germany for slave labor: in fact, this is the entire population of a country like Iceland or the pre-war Minsk. The notorious Trostenets camp took the lives of more than 200,000 civilians,” the head of state said. 

Belarus’ national wealth was destroyed or taken to the West. Hundreds of ghettos and concentration camps turned the peaceful republic into a conveyor belt of death. People from European countries were brought here to die, Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

"In fact, it was a genocide of the civilian population. This fact was officially established by the Extraordinary Government Commission immediately after the war, and in our time these investigations are continued by the Prosecutor General's Office. Every third Belarusian perished. No matter how much anyone in the ‘great democracies’ opposes or obstructs, no matter what they say, regardless of personalities and statute of limitations, we will identify and bring to justice all those involved in the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Even posthumously or in absentia,” the President said.

"Many Western countries have outlawed our Victory. Fascist hard-core nationalists are marching under the banners of SS divisions. War criminals are honored at the state level. Those who honor the memory of the Great Victory are declared enemies of the nation. Unprecedented information attacks and all kinds of falsifications on the part of the collective West justify the atrocities committed by the Nazis and their henchmen," the Belarusian leader said. “We see how the revanchists are trying to pull the bankrupt Nazi ideology out of hell. Everything is presented as if the Nuremberg Trials never happened. And it's not just about Ukraine." 

In these conditions, the head of state noted, the truth about the crimes of fascism serves as a serious warning to humanity, and the preservation of historical memory acquires special significance.