An updated monument to the residents of the village of Velie, burned down by the Nazi invaders, was opened in the Rossony district

There are especially sacred places in the Rossony region that remind descendants of the terrible price our ancestors paid for the freedom and independence of their native Belarus. One of them is a hill near the road from the district center to Klyastitsy. It was erected in memory of the civilians of the village of Velie, who were burned alive by the German fascist invaders in February 1943. A monument is erected on the summit of the mass grave, and at its foot, 74 names and surnames of children, mothers, and elderly people are engraved on granite slabs.

The memorial was erected in 1965, and its reconstruction was carried out this year. Many residents of Rossony and nearby settlements, representatives of the district authorities and public associations, and schoolchildren came to the opening of the renovated monument.

– This is a joyous and at the same time sorrowful event. With pain in our hearts, we speak of the civilians who perished solely for loving their land. It is important to preserve the memory, to pass it on to future generations so that what our relatives experienced never happens again. There is not a single family that the war has not touched, – said Vladimir Terentyev, Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, at the rally.

The memorial consists of two parts. From the memorial hill, a path leads through a field to the forest, where the barn stood, into which all the residents of the village of Velie were driven and burned along with twenty houses. A bell, which rings for the innocent victims, is installed on a metal structure in the form of a burnt beam.

In the Rossony district, there is not a single rural council whose settlements have survived the fire of the occupiers. As a result of punitive operations, about two thousand civilians were killed, 199 villages were burned down, and more than a hundred have not been restored. They, including Velje, are immortalized at the Khatyn memorial complex.

The memorial was reconstructed by the whole world. The housing and communal services, road services, forestry, and the Klyastitsy-Agro branch made their feasible contribution. Funds earned by the district residents on subbotniks were also used.

Flowers were laid at the foot of the monument, and the rector of the Ascension Church in Rossony, Archpriest Alexander Gordevich, served a requiem liturgy.

"Vitebskiye Vesti".