MINSK, 12 August (BelTA) – The death of at least 546,000 people at the Trostenets death camp has been documented, BelTA learned from the Prosecutor General's Office's media relations department.
To preserve historical truth and honor the heroic struggle of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, the Prosecutor General's Office initiated a review of the death toll at Trostenets, the largest Nazi death camp on the occupied Soviet territory, based on the findings of the criminal investigation into the genocide of the Belarusian people during the war.
As a result of these efforts, the burial sites of the death camp (the Blagovshchina and Shashkovka forests, the area near the village of Maly Trostenets) have been officially registered and documented as a single complex, with the total number of victims now confirmed to be no fewer than 546,000, higher than the previous estimate of 206,500.
The investigation, supported by the archival records from the Extraordinary State Commission from 25 July and 13 August 1944, established that the Nazis and their collaborators carried out mass shootings and burials at the camp.
In Blagovshchina, 34 mass graves were discovered. Later, in an attempt to conceal their crimes, the Nazis exhumed the bodies, burned the remains and reburied the ashesand bones.
In Shashkovka, a cremation furnace was installed for mass killings, with victims’ ashes scattered across nearby fields. Human remains were also burned in barns in the village of Maly Trostenets.
The Prosecutor General's Office concluded that the previously reported death toll of 206,500 did not reflect the true scale of the tragedy.
At the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, the executive authorities compiled an unified burial record (registration number 5838), which the Defense Ministry has entered into the automated databank The Book of Memory of the Republic of Belarus, available online.
Additionally, to preserve the historical memory, the Prosecutor General's Office has called for comprehensive and accurate information about the real scale of the tragedy and the consequences of the genocide against the Belarusian people to be made available to the public, including younger generations.
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