Press releases

9 Sep 2025

Belarusian anthem plays as French Thil marks WWII liberation

MINSK, 9 September (BelTA) – The national anthem of Belarus resonated during a commemorative ceremony marking the liberation of the French town of Thil from the Nazi invaders, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the invitation of the French side, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of Belarus in France Kirill Grushevsky took part in the commemorative events at the Crypt of the Victims of the concentration camp that operated near Thil during the war. He laid flowers at the entrance to the mine where prisoners of war were forced to labor. Many of them died during a collapse in the mine.

There were hundreds of Soviet women among the prisoners. Many died in the collapse, but the survivors managed to escape and created a unique female partisan unit called Rodina (Motherland), the only one of its kind in the French Resistance movement.