Kuropaty should become a site of common grief and commemoration, Head of EcooM Analytical Center Sergei Musiyenko said.
“Kuropaty should become a place of common grief and commemoration, not a place to demonstrate one's political views,” Sergei Musiyenko said. He paid attention to a significant number of memorials in Belarus and a considerable experience of their creation. The most vivid examples are the memorials in the Brest Fortress, Khatyn, and Trostenets. “There is a world-wide practice not to mention any religion or ethnicity when a national memorial is established, even when it is clear that there lie people predominantly of one nationality and one religion. It looks ill-grounded with mass burial sites. Suppose, the memorial is already created and then a commission finds out that there is at least one representative of another nation and another religion. It is a very complex issue,” Sergei Musiyenko believes.
He stressed that religious symbols were erected at the mass burial site in Kuropaty earlier. Today certain political forces try to exploit this subject for their benefit. “If it is to be a national memorial, it should not divide the nation. It should be a place of commemoration for people of all religions, with no other implication behind it. It is up to us to create a national memorial in Kuropaty, as in a generation or two the task can become too difficult to be solved. I think, its implementation needs assistance by government and historical research,” Sergei Musiyenko said.
“I personally took part in the installation of several signs in commemoration of those who died in World War One. There were no religious symbols either. The inscriptions were made both in Russian and German, but there were no other symbols. This is a normal practice. We need to stop spontaneous installations of any kind at memorial sites,” Sergei Musiyenko noted. He added that Belarusians have always created memorials with understanding and tolerance.
BelTA reported earlier that the discussion is underway in Belarus on the status of Kuropaty, its role in public life and on the lessons to be learned from the tragic past. The creation of a national memorial in Kuropaty is under consideration.