MINSK, 4 May (BelTA) - Behind the identification of the fallen soldiers and victims of the Great Patriotic War is the history of specific families, Sergei Kornev, head of the department for immortalizing the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland and war victims of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, told BelTA’s The Nation Speaks project.
“Relatives come and it is worth working for,” Sergei Kornev said. “There recently has been a reburial of remains in the Masyukovshchina War Memorial. Relatives of two soldiers whom we identified by during our search came from the Republic of Tatarstan. Those were two nieces, granddaughters of the Red Army soldier and their children. This is really the history of their families. They heard stories from their fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers. And today they know the fate of their relatives. They know that there is a place where they can come, pay tribute, lay flowers.”
Belarus plans to set up an electronic portal about concentration camp prisoners. According to the expert, all stakeholders will be involved in this work, including the National Archives, the State Security Committee (KGB), the Defense Ministry, the Prosecutor General's Office. “Of course, requests will be sent wherever it is possible to clarify and establish this information,” said the head of the department.
This work also involves ordinary citizens who are not indifferent to the history of the state. There are quite a lot of them,” Sergey Kornev added. “These are people of different ages. There are also school students who, having received an assignment from the teacher, are trying to establish the fate of their fellow compatriot. They, with the help of teachers, make requests to archival institutions, and we also receive a lot of requests. Possible witnesses of those events share their memories. They do not always remember the exact places. Nevertheless, the information they provide is valuable. A lot of work in this direction is carried out by our public search associations, clubs, detachments.”
