Alternate names: Chatyń, Khatyn' at 54°20' N 27°57' E , Logoisk region of Minsk guberniya, 33.7 miles NNE of Minsk, a village some 40 miles east of Minsk, where in 1943 Nazis burned 163 villagers alive as they did in dozens of other Belarusian villages.149 people, including 75 children under age were burned alive. The village was then looted and burned to the ground. occurred on March 22, 1943. Student trip. For information, see http://www.khatyn.by/en/tragedy/. Refutation of Wikipedia article. See sculpture of Yuzif Kaminsky, the only Belarusian citizen who survived the burning of Khatyn: The Graveyard of Villages and the Trees of Life, located in Khatyn, are somber reminders of the horrific effects World War II had on the population of Belarus. The over 180 villages that were destroyed during the war are commemorated in the Graveyard of Villages. Over 400 villages were reconstructed, which is signified in the Trees of Life showcasing hope for a decimated country. [March 2009]
A memorial called "Village of Villages" information can be found at http://www.khatyn.by/en/about/excursion/step9/. A Soviet-era memorial featuring a gigantic figure of an old man carrying his son's dead body and several dozen life-size chimneys scattered in an open field where the village's houses once stood. The chimneys make bell sounds as if the burned-down houses mourn the people who once lived there. A black granite obelisk marks the mass grave and says "on October 29, 2004, the Belorussian Jewish Community installed a monument of brown granite inscribed in Yiddish and Belarussian...for the victims of Stalinism." Information and photos can be found at http://www.khatyn.by/en/about/history/. Khatyn memorial information. [March 2009]