A memorial plaque to the patriotic fighters of the war years appeared in Vitebsk
From August 1941 to December 1943, the German operational command SD-9 was located in the historical building. The upper floors housed offices where torture and interrogations took place. The basements served as prison cells. About 10,000 people passed through the dungeons of the SD. After the liberation of Vitebsk in 1944, inscriptions were found on the walls of the cells – posthumous messages from the deceased. On the eve of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders, the idea arose to form a permanent exhibition within the walls of the former SD prison.
In 2003, a new exhibition was created. It maximally preserved the external appearance of the cells and corridor. The inscriptions in the cells were restored, and tablets with inscriptions were placed in each one. Materials on the occupation regime and the Vera Kholuzhaya group were placed on the bars. The former prison cells display photo-documentary materials about the heroes of the Vitebsk underground who were imprisoned here. Among them are Sofia Pankova, Evdokia Suranova, Antonina Ermakovich, Raisa Sheryakova, Eduard Grebenkov, Lidia Berezina, Vera Kholuzhaya, and others. The permanent exhibition titled "In Memory of the Patriots of the Vitebsk Region" of the regional museum of local lore is still operating today, and there is no similar place in other cities of Belarus.
Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies Vladimir Terentyev noted that the money for the memorial plaque was raised by members of the public association "Belaya Rus" and trade unions. "In Soviet times, there was a plaque at this place stating that during the occupation years, the SD prison was located here. In the 1990s, it disappeared. We consulted with the staff of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, adjusted the text, and restored the original plaque," said the head of the region's deputy corps.
The building in the historical center of Vitebsk at 7 Krylova Street was built in 1803 for the needs of a public school; at different times it housed a male gymnasium, a seminary, and since 1918, the Proletarian University operated here, followed by the Polytechnic College.