Massacres of civilians during World War II
Operation Barbarossa and the Khatyn Massacre: Nazi Terror in Belarus
12m
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany launches Operation Barbarossa, invading the Soviet Union and unleashing a war of extermination. In occupied Belarus, entire villages are wiped out in brutal reprisals. One of the most horrifying atrocities occurs in Khatyn, where 149 civilians – including 75 children – are burned alive in revenge for the death of an Olympic champion serving with Nazi forces. Today, the Khatyn Memorial stands as a haunting reminder of Belarus’s immense wartime suffering.
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