Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 6 February (BelTA) – Only people with an ugly soul could say what CNN said about the Courage Monument at the Brest Hero Fortress, Chairman of the Union of Writers of Belarus, Chairman of the Public Council for Morale Nikolai Cherginets told BelTA.

The monument in Brest stands on the blood of thousands and thousands of people who died defending their motherland, and to say that it is ugly was pretty low. This monument reminds us of the horrors of the Second World War and of what the Nazis did, said Nikolai Cherginets. “I hope somebody will tell them [CNN that compiled the world’s ugliest monuments rating - note by BelTA] that what they did was very insulting to the memory of the millions of people who were killed by the Nazis. Such "architecture experts" should be ashamed and such statements should be condemned by the public,” Nikolai Cherginets said.

What is next for CNN? The artistic value of the Nazi death camps in Europe? Nikolai Cherginets wondered.

For us, the Belarusians, the Brest Fortress will remain a sacred place, reminding us of the horrors of the war and the sacrifices we had to make, said Nikolai Cherginets.

The Brest Hero Fortress Memorial opened on 25 September 1971. The main monument is called Courage and is a sculpture of a warrior and the banner. There are engravings on the back side of the monument. They depict the separate episodes of the heroic defense of the fortress: "The Counterattack", "The Meeting of the Commanding Officers", "The Last Grenade", "The Machine Gun Men", "Artillerists' Act of Bravery". The remains of 850 people are buried in the three-tier necropolis compositionally linked to the monument.