Blahaǔščyna Memorial Site (2017)

View of the construction site of the "Path of Death" memorial (2017)

View of the Execution Site and the “Forest of Names” (2017)

The state memorialization of Maly Trascjanec began in Belarus in 2015 as a result of the cultural remembrance work of the International Centre for Education and Exchange (IBB) and civil groups.

In August 2017, work began on the second construction phase of the three-part memorial complex in the forest near Blahaǔščyna. The closely linked places of remembrance – the "Path of Death" and the memorial on the former execution site – were created. While civil actors were able to participate in the plans for the "Path of Death", they were excluded from the conception of the memorial.¹ When the area near Blahaǔščyna was redesigned, the soil of the forest clearing was only superficially examined; more detailed investigations, such as prospecting or digital development methods, were not carried out. However, by examining the surface, employees of the Institute of History of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences were able to find personal belongings of the murdered persons as well as bullet casings.²

Public opening of the second construction phase

The memorial complex in Blahaǔščyna was opened on June 29, 2018. In addition to the Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Austrian Federal President Alexander van der Bellen and other political representatives from the Czech Republic and Poland were also present.³

In his speech, Frank-Walter Steinmeier emphasized the importance of remembering the crimes committed by the National Socialists against Jews and resistance fighters.⁴

Bird's-eye view of the memorial

The place of remembrance itself is now a well-kept leveled area with lawns. The locations of the execution trenches determined by the Extraordinary State Commission are clearly marked.⁵ The entire Maly Trascjanec memorial complex can be understood as a composition of different sections. The international civil efforts in the “Forest of Names” or the “Path of Death” in particular have made it possible to make visible the Jewish victims, who for a long time were not explicitly named in the Soviet culture of remembrance. The memorial at the Blahaǔščyna execution site also benefits from this civil involvement.