MINSK, 3 July (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko laid a wreath at the Mound of Glory Memorial Complex on Independence Day and highlighted the special importance of this place for the Belarusian people, BelTA has learned.
The head of state drew attention to the symbolism of the place. The Mound of Glory is a sacred place for every Belarusian. Here, in the middle of the last century the fate of Belarus was decided as battles were raging for the capital of our Motherland, the president recalled.
"It is difficult for us to imagine what our soldiers felt, but I know one thing: they were determined to take revenge on the enemy for what happened in 1941, at the beginning of the war, when the fascists, feeling almost no resistance, marched through Belarus to capture Minsk," the Belarusian leader said.
"The Bagration liberation operation showed that in the art of winning the Soviet army surpassed their enemy. The day when Minsk was liberated became a harbinger of our victory in 1945. The Mound of Glory was built on the site of the landmark battles," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
He stressed that the mound was literally built by the hands of thousands of people who witnessed the war, who remembered their fallen comrades, mourned the lost relatives.
"During a year they brought handfuls of soil from the hero cities, the places of the partisan resistance, the soil that absorbed the tears of mothers, wives and children of fallen soldiers, the pain of loss of millions of lives," the Belarusian leader said.
The head of state announced a minute of silence in tribute of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
"For us, the Belarusians who lost every third one in that war, the Mound of Glory is a sacred symbol. A symbol of our independence and freedom," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. He noted that here a capsule was laid with a message to future generations, the essence of which is simple and always relevant, especially in the present time: to keep the memory of the Great Patriotic War and to be patriots of the Fatherland.
"This was why, back in Soviet times, the place hosted pioneers and Komsomol oath taking ceremonies. Nowadays it is the venue for the military oath ceremonies. We come here on Victory Day and Independence Day. Today the Mound of Glory has become a new point on the route of true patriots of Belarus," the president said.
"We, the modern generation, remember that the heroes of the Great Patriotic War gave us life, and we try to live it being worthy of their memory, the memory of those who created this monument. Those who defended the traditions lost in the 1990s and restored the memorial complex, giving it a modern look," the Belarusian leader said.
The president thanked the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and the administration of Minsk Oblast for up-keeping the Mound of Glory in the proper condition. “We should be proud that there is not a single abandoned monument in Belarus. Russians, knowing this, highly appreciate the attitude of Belarusians to the monuments of the Great Patriotic War, and there are thousands of them on our land. This land is soaked with the blood of Soviet people, Belarusians, partisans underground fighters, all members of the resistance movement and is strewn with the dead,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
