Today Belarus remembers the residents of the village of Khatyn which was burned down by the Nazis 81 years ago - on 22 March 1943. By remembering Khatyn, Belarusians remember thousands of other Belarusian villages destroyed by the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War.
On 22 March 1943 the Nazi units entered the village and drove its inhabitants from their houses and into a shed, which was then covered with straw and set on fire. The trapped people managed to break down the front doors, but in trying to escape, were killed by machine gun fire. 149 people, including 75 children under 16 were killed. The village was then looted and burned to the ground.
A memorial complex Khatyn was built on the site of the village to commemorate the victims. The decision to build the memorial was made in 1966. The grand opening ceremony was held on 5 July 1969. Thematically, the Khatyn memorial consists of several parts, but has a single compositional center that repeats the layout of the former village. In the center there is a bronze sculpture Unconquered Man. Next to it there is the symbolic roof of the barn in which people were burned alive. On the mass grave there is The Crown of Memory. On the site of each of the 26 burned houses there is a log monument with an obelisk in the form of a chimney with a memorial plaque listing the names of the residents of the house. The obelisks are topped with bells.
