SVETLOGORSK DISTRICT, 15 October (BelTA) - On 15 October, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Igor Sergeyenko, members of the House of Representatives from Gomel Oblast, the regional authorities and parliamentarians laid wreaths and flowers at the memorial complex on the site of the village of Ola in Svetlogorsk District which was burned down during the Great Patriotic War, BelTA has learned.
The commemorative meeting honored the memory of 1,758 civilians, both locals and also residents of other settlements who tried to hide from the enemy in a remote area, who were killed by Nazis in the Belarusian village of Ola in January 1944.
The participants of the commemorative event took a stroll along the road of memory and sorrow - the former village street, with symbolic human silhouettes standing in the places where houses used to stand.
The memory of the innocent victims of the war was honored with a minute of silence. Flowers were laid at the memorial cross and the mass grave of Soviet soldiers and civilians burned alive in the village of Ola.
"We are shocked by what we saw in the Ola memorial complex. You feel the pain and suffering of the Belarusians who were killed here in January 1944. It is impossible to forget this! The memory of the tragedy of the people in the terrible war must be preserved for centuries," Igor Sergeyenko emphasized.
Life in Ola came to an eternal halt on 14 January 1944. Early in the morning a German punitive detachment surrounded the village. The occupiers made hell on earth for the villagers. They drove people into houses and then set them on fire. Those who tried to escape were machine-gunned and thrown back into the fire. Only a few survived. 1,758 people were killed in the village of Ola, including 950 children.
The commemorative meeting honored the memory of 1,758 civilians, both locals and also residents of other settlements who tried to hide from the enemy in a remote area, who were killed by Nazis in the Belarusian village of Ola in January 1944.
The participants of the commemorative event took a stroll along the road of memory and sorrow - the former village street, with symbolic human silhouettes standing in the places where houses used to stand.
The memory of the innocent victims of the war was honored with a minute of silence. Flowers were laid at the memorial cross and the mass grave of Soviet soldiers and civilians burned alive in the village of Ola.
"We are shocked by what we saw in the Ola memorial complex. You feel the pain and suffering of the Belarusians who were killed here in January 1944. It is impossible to forget this! The memory of the tragedy of the people in the terrible war must be preserved for centuries," Igor Sergeyenko emphasized.
Life in Ola came to an eternal halt on 14 January 1944. Early in the morning a German punitive detachment surrounded the village. The occupiers made hell on earth for the villagers. They drove people into houses and then set them on fire. Those who tried to escape were machine-gunned and thrown back into the fire. Only a few survived. 1,758 people were killed in the village of Ola, including 950 children.
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