Viciebsk Regional Executive Committee, having considered the collective appeal of local activists of the CCP BPF said that the excavations that were conducted in October – November 2015 in a forest near the village of Chajsy forces 52nd separate specialized search battalion, did not give a clear answer to the question of who, when and under what circumstances was shot and secretly buried in the woods.
Authorities Viciebsk district informed the opposition that as a result of field searching works with the excavations were able to identify skeletal remains of 172 people. However, the cause of death of people and the type of weapon that was used for their killing, in materials research search location is not defined.
As a result of search operations found in the burial objects that belong to the soldiers and officers of the Soviet army and Germany during the Great Patriotic War, as well as civilians. Approximate time of burial – 1936-1942 years. Similarly, to determine the period of burial is not possible, however, a correlation with the burial of the Great Patriotic War.
For more information Viciebsk Regional Executive Committee requests were sent to the Office of the State Security Committee of the Viciebsk region and state institution "National Archives of the Republic of Belarus" to set the period of disposal of archival documents.
Officials assure civil society activists, after obtaining archive information will be a meeting of the organizing committee executive committee to perpetuate the memory of Fatherland Defenders and War Victims, which will address the issue of reburial of the remains found in a wooded area near the village of Chajsy.
Following that, it became clear that the suspicions of the opposition that in forests near the villages Chajsy and Drykolle held executions of citizens in the pre-war period, documented and physical evidence obtained during excavations in the area.
It is obvious that in eleven holes are the remains of people who have nothing to do with military units do not have. If executions committed by the Nazis, it would be uniquely determined by a qualified archaeologist who always accompanied the soldiers search battalion during the excavation.
The weapon with which the killings were carried out, it is easy to identify on the cartridges and bullets, which in large quantities were found by searchers in the soil around the pits and burial pits. It is doubtful that the military experts were not able to do that and it is not reflected in the report.
I think that the period, accounting for penalty elementary defined by the coins, which were found in burial sites. Also, although less accurately, the shooting can be set for shoes and other personal belongings of executed citizens.
Therefore, the years 1936-1941 can be taken as a reliable date of burial, but in 1942 the first is in serious doubt. Indeed, since July 1941, Viciebsk was under German occupation, and in this area there were no Soviet coins 42-year issue. Also in the graves under Chajsy and Drykolle it was impossible to meet the Soviet shoes and other personal belongings dating from this year of release.
Authorities did not report on the proportion of military and civilian property, found during excavations. But the fact of their treatment in the KGB archives and may indicate that the ratio in the pits – not in favor of the military. After all, after the July 1941 security officers are not hosted in Viciebsk and the surrounding area, and they are unlikely to have data about what really happened in Viciebsk forests during the war.
Finally. Agree, it would be a huge scandal if the authorities dare to bury the remains of soldiers who died in battle and the battles of the Second World War, along with the remains of civilians, whom the NKVD executed during the political repression of 30-40 years of XX century. To each his own place – and in the tombs, and in people's memory.
Lyavon Efremenko
