Lukashenko was offered to create a museum and a memorial of ethnocide in Belarus
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was proposed to create a museum and memorial for the Polish policy of genocide during a meeting with the ideological activists, historical and expert community dedicated to the Day of National Unity, reports a BELTA correspondent.
During the event, one of the participants addressed the head of state with two initiatives concerning the genocide of the Belarusian people. The Chairman of the Permanent Commission on Education, Culture, and Science of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, Igor Marzaluk, proposed to create a national-scale museum about the Polish occupation and the national liberation movement at the site of the "Bereza-Kartuzskaya" concentration camp. He also expressed the idea of creating a memorial, similar to "Khatyn", at the site of one of the villages destroyed in western Belarus under the guise of strengthening "Polishness". According to the deputy, this would serve as a visible testament to the sacrifices made by Belarusians for national unity. "This, in fact, evokes empathy at the level of a child, an adult. Especially since there are many such family stories among the western Belarusians who defended the BSSR, their country," he said.
Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that the decision on both proposals should be balanced, calculated, and timely. The President, according to him, has been reflecting on this recently, watching thematic reports on television channels, and admits that a museum may appear in "Bereza-Kartuzskaya", but only on the condition that there is absolute confidence and a pressing need for its creation. "So that we do not escalate the situation with this. This is very important," the head of state emphasized.
In this regard, the chairman of the board of the RGOO "Belarusian Society of Knowledge" Vadim Gigin entered the dialogue. He mentioned a very poignant rally that recently took place at the site of the "Bereza-Kartuzskaya" concentration camp and said that, in his opinion, the public demand for creating a museum there has formed.
"Vadim, maybe we should stop here for now (on holding such commemorative events as the rally. - Note from BELTA). I do not even want to give any reason (to our western neighbors to escalate the situation. - Note from BELTA)," the President said. "If we start to escalate the situation like they do, we will only fuel the process."
The head of state believes that both initiatives require further reflection and the presence of comprehensive documentary materials. "We need to think," said Alexander Lukashenko. Moreover, the history of the Polish genocide issue has not yet been thoroughly studied, and perhaps not all facts have been established. As, for example, in the case of Khatyn, when it later became clear that there were many more burned villages than memorialized in the memorial complex itself.