State Memorial complex "Khatyn"
(website has Russian, Byelorussian, English and German versions)

State Memorial complex "Khatyn" (in English)



A virtual tour around the memorial complex
Step 12

"
The Eternal Fire and three birch trees remind that every fourth Belorussian citizen perished during the Great Patriotic War. There are 4 niches on the mourning pedestal, but the birch tress grow only in three of them. The Eternal Fire is there in memory of each fourth person killed.
"



http://www.khatyn.by/en/genocide/expeditions/

quote
"
Fascists outraged in Belourussia during the three years of occupation.

The following figures are further proof to the scale of crimes. The number of annihilated settlements with the inhabitants during punitive operations:

Unrestored Restored Altogether
186 442 628

The number of settlements destroyed together with only part of the inhabitants:

Unrestored Restored Altogether
325 4342 4667

In all: 5295.

Thus, over 5295 settlements were destroyed by fascists together with all or part of inhabitants during punitive action (out of 9200 settlements, burnt and annihilated in Belorussia during the Great Patriotic War). 243 villages were burned down twice, 83 villages thrice and 22 villages were burned down 4 times and more in Vitebsk region. 92 villages were burned down twice, 40 villages thrice, 9 villages four times and 6 villages five and more times were burned in Minsk region.

3% of all 5295 villages were destroyed in 1941. 16% — in 1942. 63% — in 1943. 18% — in 1944.

The outcome of the genocide policy and of the "scorched earth" policy was that 2 230 000 people were killed in Belorussia within the three years of occupation. Every fourth person died. And according to the refined data, every third person in Belarus was killed.

/
In 2000-2001 a group of historians, archive keepers and museum stuff tried to determine the exact number of Belorussian citizens killed during the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War. The group was based in the administration of the Ministry of Defense. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War they summed their work up about casualties in the period of 1941-1944. This document was ratified and signed on July 19, 2001. It reads: "The toll of people killed on the territory of Belorussia during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1944) makes up 2 million 596 thousand people. The data is based on archives."
/
http://www.khatyn.by/en/genocide/expeditions/utochn/
"