The Alley of Heroes was opened in Verkhnedvinsk
A new landmark has appeared in the central city square, where soldiers who died liberating the Verkhnedvinsk land are buried. A rally-requiem gathered hundreds of residents of the district center at this sacred place. Many marched in a column with portraits of their relatives, joining the "Belarus Remembers" campaign.
The participants of the celebration were congratulated on the great bright holiday by Chairman of the District Executive Committee Igor Markovich. He bowed low to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War for their courage, heroism, and boundless love for their Motherland, and reminded them of the price of Victory.
During the war, the Verkhnedvinsk district lost every second resident, and 426 villages were burned down on its territory. One of the most terrible pages of Belarusian history was the tragedy of the Osvia land. 75 years ago, fascist occupiers drove the residents of the village of Rositsa and surrounding settlements into a church. After holding them there for several days, they burned them alive in large barns. The punitive operation of the Hitlerite invaders called "Winter Magic" surpassed all previously conducted in its cruelty. The former Osvia district was actually wiped off the face of the earth, and more than 20,000 civilians – children, the elderly, and women – were destroyed.
The residents of the district continue to perpetuate the memory of their countrymen who gave their lives for the freedom of the Fatherland to this day. The opening of the alley in the square, where memorial signs to the Heroes of the Soviet Union who glorified the Verkhnedvinsk land are installed, became a landmark event.
The names of eight people are inscribed on the granite slabs, who forever inscribed their exploits in the history of the Great Victory: combatants and partisans Andrei Burak, Semyon Zabagonsky, Ivan Zakharov, Ivan Kobzun, Eduard Lavrinovich, Ivan Makeenko, Mikhail Myadel, and Soviet scout and nurse of the partisan detachment "Burya" Nadezhda Troyan.
The funds for the creation of the memorial complex were earned by residents during a community work day, and they carried out the landscaping of the territory themselves. In addition, trade union organizations of the Vitebsk region provided significant financial assistance. The district leadership addressed a letter of gratitude to the chairman of the regional trade union association, Ivan Vozmitel, for his understanding and support of this significant project.
Another symbolic action was timed to coincide with the Year of Small Motherlands. A capsule with soil taken from the places where civilians of the Verkhnedvinsk district died was handed over to the crypt of the All Saints Church in Minsk during a requiem rally. During the ceremony, the relic was presented to Archpriest Nikolai Sukhanovich of the memorial church by Anton Bubalo, an honorary citizen of the Verkhnedvinsk district and compiler of the "Pamyat" book, who was born in Osvyashchina and experienced the horrors of the Salaspils death camp in his early childhood.
As reported by Alexander Gostev, Director of the Belarusian Cultural Center for Spiritual Revival, who was present at the celebration, 70 niches of the memorial church in the capital of Belarus are already filled with soil from the burial sites of our compatriots. And this work will continue so that the memory of the heroes lives on for centuries.
The program of events concluded in the Verkhnedvinsk city park, where a large concert was held, numerous thematic exhibitions, sports competitions, and cultural events were organized.