Vladimir Terentyev met with the staff of the Vitebsk Regional Clinical Center for Psychiatry and Narcology
Our country is multinational, and its inhabitants know how to build friendly, open, and benevolent relations with representatives of different peoples. This position will be maintained in the future. But this does not mean that we should forget about the terrible events of the Great Patriotic War, about the genocide of the Belarusian people and the Holocaust, about the huge losses that our native land suffered during the years of struggle against fascism. During the USSR, it was not customary to draw attention to facts that could cast a shadow on some union republics. For example, to talk about the numerous Latvian police battalions that operated from 1941, or about the Latvian SS Legion created later, about the atrocities they committed in the territories occupied by the fascists. But today, Vladimir Terentyev noted, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who once ruthlessly destroyed the civilian population as part of the SS troops are trying to rewrite history, demolish monuments, and destroy the graves of Soviet soldiers.
During the meeting with the medical staff, the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies told them a lot about what happened and how it happened on the territory of Belarus during the war. Summing up, he emphasized that it is necessary to continue researching the undisclosed pages of history and at the same time preserve what is already known, passing on the memory of the military events to the younger generation.
The speech made a strong impression.
— I observed the staff and saw how their faces changed during the conversation, — noted the chief physician of the healthcare institution, Elena Martynova.
Elena Valeryevna said that much is being done at the regional clinical center for psychiatry and narcology to preserve the memory of the past. For example, employees have equipped a stand "Always in service, forever in memory!", where they decided to post information about their ancestors who fought against the fascists during the Great Patriotic War. The team got involved in the process very actively, so the information is updated every three months so that as many people as possible can tell their colleagues about their relatives who opposed the occupiers.
— A person who remembers their past has a future. And Ivan, who doesn't remember his roots, is a dead end, — Elena Martynova is sure. — Therefore, we will continue this work.
— It sometimes seems to us that we know all the historical facts, that everything has been discussed dozens of times. But in reality, new data appears, new aspects of past events are revealed, — explained Vladimir Terentyev. — Therefore, it is very important to meet with teams — these can be teachers, doctors, or simply workers at enterprises. We need to talk to people honestly, frankly, and convey the historical truth that exists today.
According to the head of the Vitebsk region's deputy corps, the benefits of such meetings are obvious.
— I think that even if someone goes home today, sits down with their children, opens the internet and starts searching for data about their great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers — this will already be the result we are talking about, — noted Vladimir Terentyev. — Or when people see a report from the Republic of Latvia, where our monuments are being demolished, and instead of discussing over a cup of tea that the Red Army was an occupying force for the Baltics, they remember those Latvians who, as part of SS battalions, killed civilians, and look at these historical events in a completely different way.