MINSK, 9 May (BelTA) – The tragedy of the Belarusian nation, which bore the titanic burden of losses and destruction of the cruelest war of the 20th century, is incomparable to any hardships of today. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during the army parade held on 9 May to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed: “This holiday is sacred for us. The tragedy of the Belarusian nation, which bore the titanic burden of losses and destruction of the cruelest war of the 20th century, is incomparable to any hardships of today. Even thoughts to betray the traditions that have been glorifying the history of the great deeds of the victors for 75 years already are unthinkable for us.”
The president remarked that the army parade in Minsk this year is the only one held in the post-Soviet space, but it honors all the Soviet warriors, who liberated the world from the Nazi. “Today we honor the deeds of our fathers and forefathers. Their road to victory was awash with tears of mothers, wives, and children, soaked in blood of the comrades that fell in battles and of civilians, scorched by the ashes of the villages burned down by the enemy,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated. “We bow low before the heroic deeds of Russians and Belarusians, Ukrainians and Jews, Tatars and Kazakhs, Tajiks and Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and Turkmen, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Moldavans, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians – all the residents of the Soviet Union, underground resistance fighters of Europe, our allies – the USA, UK, and China. Their courage, bravery, and readiness to die for their country became a terrible weapon of vengeance against the Nazi and their satellites.”
In his words, history taught a lesson to followers of Nazism ideology, to conquerors with unbridled geopolitical ambitions. The president noted that the meaning of the lesson is simple: people that defend their native country, their families and the future of their children are invincible.
“Belarus rose up as a live shield on the way of the aggressor. After marching for half of Europe the Nazi met fierce resistance in Belarusian lands for the first time. The heroic defense of the Brest Fortress, the city of Mogilev lasted much longer than the conquest of many European countries. It is in the fierce battles of 1941, including in Belarusian lands, that the enemy's confidence in its supremacy was shaken and the foundation of the future Great Victory was laid,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.
The head of state stressed that the contribution of the Belarusian nation to the defeat of the Nazi is beyond doubt. Some 1.3 million Belarusians fought in ranks of the Red Army. Underground resistance fighters and partisans controlled 60% of the occupied territory of Belarus by the end of 1943. “Every third Belarusian died to stop the advance of the Nazi to the east, to the capital city of our union. As long as our hearts feel pain for those, who didn't come back from the battlefields, as long as truth is told about that war, we remember! Because every day of peaceful and free life has been paid for with millions of victims and war-torn destinies. We are forever connected by ties of blood with the brotherly nations, together with whom our fathers and forefathers put a stop to the catastrophe of the 20th century,” the Belarusian leader said.
