KHATYN
Logoysk District, Minsk Region
Status: never rebuilt · memorial
The Tragedy
March 22, 1943 – Punitive forces from the 118th Schutzmannschaft Battalion and the SS "Dirlewanger" Battalion surrounded the village. All residents were herded into a collective farm barn, the doors were locked, the barn was covered with straw, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. Those who ran out of the flames were shot with automatic weapons and machine guns.
149
people killed
75
children
26
houses burned
6
survivors
Khatyn · then and now
⚫ Khatyn right after the tragedy
🕊️ Memorial complex today — 185 symbolic urns
Names of the victims
Based on the commission's act of May 26, 1969 and archival documents.
1. Baranovsky family
- Iosif Baranovsky, Anna Baranovskaya, and their 9 children (11 people)
2. Novitsky family
- Alexander Novitsky, Alexandra Novitskaya, and their 7 children (9 people)
3. Iotko family
- Kazimir Iotko, Elena Iotko, and their 7 children (youngest — 1 year old) (9 people)
4. Yaskevich family
- Vera Yaskevich and her children:
- ▪ Tolik Yaskevich — 7 weeks old (the youngest resident of Khatyn)
- ▪ Vladimir Yaskevich — 13 years old (survived)
- ▪ Sofya Yaskevich — 9 years old (survived)
- ▪ Lenochka Yaskevich — 12 years old (shot while trying to escape to the forest)
- ▪ and 3 other children
5. Zhelobkovich family
- Alexander Zhelobkovich (13 years old — survived), Viktor Zhelobkovich (7 years old — survived), and other family members (8 people total)
6. Kaminsky family
- Iosif Kaminsky (56 years old) — the only adult survivor
- Adam Kaminsky (15 years old) — mortally wounded, died in his father's arms
- Mother — killed
7. Kunkevich family
- Anton Kunkevich (resident of Yurkovichi, accidentally in Khatyn)
8. Slonsky family
- Kristina Slonskaya (resident of Kameno, accidentally in Khatyn)
The list also includes families (full names are being verified from archival documents):
Rudenya · Kovalchuk · Mironovich · Yurtsevich · Grib · and other residents of Khatyn.
Rudenya · Kovalchuk · Mironovich · Yurtsevich · Grib · and other residents of Khatyn.
Additional victim outside the barn:
Nina Belyakova — a resident of the neighboring village Mokrad, shot by accident while walking with buckets of water as the punitive forces began surrounding Khatyn. She was the first victim of the Khatyn tragedy.
Nina Belyakova — a resident of the neighboring village Mokrad, shot by accident while walking with buckets of water as the punitive forces began surrounding Khatyn. She was the first victim of the Khatyn tragedy.
Voices of the survivors
“We, the people condemned to death, including myself and my family, cried and screamed loudly. When the punishers opened the barn door, they started shooting with machine guns and automatic weapons... but the shooting was almost inaudible because of the screaming.”
“My son Adam, who was lying not far from me, called me over. I crawled to him, lifted him up, and saw that he had been cut in half by bullets. Adam still managed to ask: 'Is Mama alive?' and then he died right there.”
“As soon as all the villagers were inside the barn, the fascists locked it. Under the pressure of dozens of people, the doors couldn't hold and collapsed. In burning clothes, overcome with horror, the people of Khatyn tried to run, but in vain. The fascists cold-bloodedly shot them. My mother and I ran out of the barn and came under a hail of fire. I pressed myself against my mother's body and felt a sharp jolt. It was a bullet that killed my mother, and grazed my shoulder.”
Viktor Zhelobkovich died in 2020. He was the last of the six survivors of Khatyn.
Memory
The Khatyn Memorial Complex was opened on July 5, 1969. It became a symbol of all Belarusian villages burned by the Nazis together with their inhabitants — more than 600 «sisters of Khatyn» that never revived.
185 urns — one for each destroyed village
The bell of Khatyn rings every 30 seconds