The city found itself surrounded by a deadly ring, almost completely cut off from its main supply routes. Hitler's command planned to wipe Leningrad off the face of the earth and exterminate its inhabitants. For 872 days, the city endured hunger, cold, and constant shelling and bombing. But Leningrad survived.
Today, Belarus bows its head to the victims of the siege of Leningrad – to those who perished from hunger and cold, to the city's defenders, to the mothers and children, to all who endured the terrible trials of war and lost their loved ones.
While the Eternal Flame burns, the bells of Khatyn ring, and documents and photographs are carefully preserved in museums, the memory of those who did not return from the war lives on.
The sacred soil from Piskarevskoye Cemetery, carefully preserved in Khatyn Memorial Complex Museum, has become a symbol of the inseparable connection between two places of grief — Khatyn and Leningrad, Belarus and Russia, two peoples united by a common history, a common Victory, and a common pain.
Belarus remembers.
Belarus honors.
