Opinions & Interviews
Lukashenko emphasizes responsibility for keeping memory of Great Victory alive
An archive photo
MINSK, 10 April (BelTA) – The present generation bears great responsibility for keeping the memory of the Great Victory alive, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in an interview with the Interstate TV and Radio Company Mir on 8 April, BelTA has learned.
“We talk a lot about our Victory, about the heroism of our people, about the genocide against the Soviet people, against our people. It's right, it's true, but do we put a lot of heart into it? After all, 80 years have already passed. A few of those who survived the war as children or adults are living today. Those who fought in the war are almost gone,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
“I am, after all, a Soviet person. I have met a lot of people who fought in the war, those who suffered this tragedy, who survived it. This is deep in me. It's a complete conviction. That's why ‘heroism, Victory’ are not empty words for me. These are heartfelt things. At a time when there are very few people left, we need to feel the words, to make sure our youth, at least the next generation, understands what the victory was and be proud of it. Belarus suffered the worst during the war. It was wiped off the face of the earth. The Belarusians are patient people, they know how to work, endure hardships, hide in the woods... So we survived. We thought that Belarus lost every fourth resident. Not at all: every third person perished. We know that for sure. I'm wary these figures do not get worse.”
The president said that the Prosecutor General's Office was investigating a criminal case into the genocide of the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War and the postwar period. Thanks to this work, in particular, it was possible to obtain the new information about settlements that were destroyed by the Nazi occupiers together with their inhabitants.
“When those figures (every fourth) were announced after the war, the country's leadership realized that it did not reflect well on them too. That was why they did not try to show everything, I mean, how many people died in fact. I understand them. I am not criticizing them. These are people who went through hell and back. They wanted a smaller number of casualties. But, in fact, a great many people died. It was not 25 or 27 million. There were more than 30 million Soviet people who died in that terrible war. About the same number of Chinese and other peoples died in the fight against Japanese militarism. Many of our people died there as well,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
“Our history is a great responsibility and it is our heritage. I did not fight then, but nevertheless this is my victory. This is the victory of the generation of people who lived in the Soviet Union and in Belarus. If we talk about it, we bear the greatest responsibility for it.”
It was noted during the interview that Belarus was the first republic in the Soviet Union to face the attack of Nazi Germany during the war. Belarusians and representatives of other ethnicities fought fiercely. Thanks to this this tragedy did not reach the distant regions of the Soviet Union.
Lukashenko: Germany and Poland are forgetting lessons of World War II
MINSK, 10 April (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave his take on the reasons why Germany and Poland are forgetting the lessons of World War II as he gave an interview to the Interstate TV and Radio Company Mir, BelTA has learned.
“Germany has forgotten everything. The fears have gone away together with the generation that fought in the war. There are no eyewitnesses anymore. A new generation has come. They pursue a policy imposed by the states that are located further west, including the UK, the USA. Germany has lost its way, to put it mildly. They have forgotten everything that happened. Yet. From time to time, we hear them say: ‘No, we have no place in the East, we shouldn't fight there. No, we will not go to face up Russians’. This means, their grandchildren still have some genetic memory. But it is, you know, the cries of a lonely man in the desert. No more,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
According to the president, Poland, the Baltic states are acting in the same vein. “Hundreds of thousands of our people died to liberate them. Some 600,000 Soviet soldiers were killed fighting to liberate Poland alone. They have forgotten everything. This is their policy. We forgot nothing, because we do not want to forget. But they do. And they are forgetting everything. The good thing is that through economy, people are beginning to realize the importance of the Eastern direction. I think some time will pass, and they will understand everything. There is no need for us to pay any attention to it. We need to deal with our own issues, mind our own business,” the head of state said.
During the interview, the journalist asked the president to comment on one of his recent quotes. “You can steal the memory, but not the truth,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the CIS summit in Moscow as he delivered the address of the CIS leaders ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Victory.
The head of state explained that memory can be clouded, distorted or planted. Since the truth is living facts, there is no escape from them. “How can you steal the truth? Yes, you can try to distort it, but it is very hard to do. You can succeed for a while, to fit in some mainstream and that is it. But sooner or later time puts everything in its place. Therefore, the truth cannot be stolen since it is based on facts,” the president emphasized.
He recalled the facts of genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War. “Are there places in Belarus that have no mass graves? We have been excavating many of them recently and we see how many people were buried. This is the truth about that time. How do you steal it? You will not steal it as it is based on concrete facts, on the history not some distorted version of it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.
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