Analyst calls attempts to distort Khatyn massacre ‘a mean trick’

MINSK, 25 March (BelTA) – Attempts to distort the tragedy of Khatyn are a dirty and despicable trick designed to whitewash Nazi criminals and their accomplices. The statement was made by Yakov Kedmi, a political analyst, military expert, and former Israeli government official, in the latest episode of BelTA’s YouTube project On Point.

Speaking about attempts to rewrite the history of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 as a whole, the expert noted that this despicable tactic has been used for many years. Moreover, overt and increasingly active attempts to whitewash Nazi criminals and their accomplices have been observed recently.

“In Ukraine they say that the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army did not exterminate Jews. This was allegedly done by the Soviet secret police. It was allegedly Soviet secret police agents who organized the pogrom in Lvov, not Ukrainians,” Yakov Kedmi cited as one example.

Another example is the attempt to distort the tragedy of Khatyn by claiming that the Belarusian village was burned down not by Ukrainian nationalists, but by Red Army soldiers who had been captured by the Nazis. “This is a common trick, a dirty, despicable one. It is absolutely clear and documented (even in Ukrainian sources) that the Ukrainian Insurgent Army did it,” the expert emphasized.

Yakov Kedmi also spoke about his personal connection to the village of Khatyn. “My grandfather was born in Khatyn. True, he left the place as a young man even before World War One. But this place, among other things, also evokes personal associations for me,” he admitted.