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| You are here: 2000 / Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches / Written Messages / Written Message by the Republic of Belarus | |||||||||
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Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme 
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Written Message by the Albanian Delegation Written Message by the Republic of Belarus Written Message by the Belgian Delegation Written Message by the Brazilian Delegation Written Message by the Canadian Delegation Written Message by the Republic of Chile Written Message by the Croatian Delegation Written Message by the European Commission Written Message by the Foreign Minister of Greece, George Papandreou Written Message by the Delegation of the Holy See Written Message by the Delegation of the State of Israel Written Message by the Republic of Poland Written Message by the Turkish Delegation Written Message by the Republic of Romania Written Message by UNESCO Written Message by the United Nations Written Message by the Uruguayan Delegation Written Message by the Republic of Belarus Martynov, Sergei N. Written message by the Republic of Belarus Mr. Chairperson,
It is my honour and pleasure to thank the Swedish Government, the organisers of the Conference for the invitation to participate in it, for their hospitality, good organisation and conditions for our successful work. Ladies and Gentlemen, Among those present at this forum there are representatives of many countries and continents. We are gathered here by our common aspiration – to strengthen political, civic and religious forces in defence of democratic values and human dignity in their fight against ignorance, intolerance, racism. The day the Nuremberg Tribunal condemned the nazi crimes, a great hope of the humankind was born – the hope that genocide would never occur again. Yet half a century later it is evident that malign hatred towards the humanity did not disappear. Its symptoms are still the same: racism, ethnic cleansing, anti-Semitism. The Second World War has become history. But the memory of the war generation does not succumb to time. The war has left its scars in the hearts of those who fought at the front, of the partisans, of the peaceful civilians who suffered all the atrocities of the occupation regime, of those who survived through the concentration camps and slave work abroad. The conscience of those born after the Victory over fascism is being burnt by the memories of the elder and by documents, but a small part of which is exhibited by the Belarusian delegation. This memory and conscience are living in every Belarusian family and are embodied in memorials, restored sacred places, in the memoirs of witnesses and scientific works, in published documents which, without exaggeration, could be named the chronicles of horror. The problem we discuss today concerns my people in a most direct way. During the Second World War over 2,5 million people perished in Belarus. Among them over 800 thousand were Jews, citizens of my country and other European countries who were deported by the nazis to Belarus. This means one seventh of the total Holocaust toll. The direct damage to my country was estimated at almost $15 billion. The damage to personal property of Belarusian citizens is over $5 billion. During the war Belarus was turned by the nazis into a huge concentration camp, paled with barbed wire and designated to exterminate Belarusians, Jews, Ukrainians and Russians. It is well known that the ideological basis of the criminal policy, of the criminal ends which were pursued by criminal means was national socialism and at its core – a misanthropic theory of racial superiority. The essence of the nazi policy in the East was «space without people», its strategy was genocide. The figures, even most reliable, could never ever replace and return the perished people. Yet our memory of the Holocaust victims and our duty before our own descendants do not allow us to forget the losses and the huge damage suffered by Belarus. For the Belarusian people that has chosen the path of peace, tolerance and understanding, it is only natural to bring up its children in the spirit of respect towards those who live nearby, to the memory of those who died for the sake of their life. That horrible war did not break the spirit of my people. Under the inhuman conditions of the nazi occupation regime Belarusians saved Jewish children, being fully aware of the deadly threat to themselves. The names of the 400 Belarusians who saved Jews at the risk of their own life are inscribed in the Alley of the Righteous in Jerusalem. In my country the war still affects everybody. While it is more than understandable for the elder generation, the reaction of the young is really surprising. An avid interest was evoked among young artists by the charitable competition «Holocaust as viewed by artists» organised by the National Foundation «Holocaust» and dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners of concentration camps. The national accord reigning in Belarusian society is based upon the Belarusian national mentality, historical traditions, long and strong ties among different ethnic groups, by the national policy pursued by the leaders of the country. Over 500 years Belarusians and Poles, Jews and Tartars, Russians and Ukrainians have been living and suffering together in their common homeland - Belarus. In Belarus, at the national and local levels there exist over 200 associations of 17 nationalities. As we meet here today, an important international conference on the Jewish civilisation in Eastern and Central Europe involving, again, younger generation is under way in Minsk. The Belarusian State has proclaimed and is exercising democratic principles of its national policy, which are anchored into the national legislation and are in conformity with international standards in the field. Since 1991 an active factor in our society is the Belarusian Union of Jewish Organisations and Communities. It is headed by the Honoured Architect of the Republic of Belarus, winner of numerous State Awards Leonid Levin who is a member of the official Belarusian delegation to this Conference. The Union bands together over 90 different non-governmental entities: charity foundations, veterans, women's and youth organizations, Sunday schools, clubs of Jewish culture, amateur creativity groups, acting in 19 cities with important Jewish populations. They unite over a hundred thousand people. Special attention is being paid by the local authorities to the assistance to war veterans, former prisoners of concentration camps and ghettos - victims of fascism. Mass graves and cemeteries are being looked after with an active participation of Jewish organisations. The educational programme "Lessons of the Holocaust" designed by the Republican Fund "Holocaust" for the year 2000 is under way in Belarus. Within this programme various sub-programmes for different age groups of the population have been elaborated. At the same time we can not positively state today that the world community has done all it could and should to restore justice to the victims of nazi crimes. The problem of finding and returning historical and cultural valuables confiscated by the nazis to their owners or heirs is not solved yet. There are gaps as far as the question of the "nazi gold" and other assets of Holocaust victims are concerned. When there is political will there is always a way to reach a compromise about any most complex issue. In our view, a good example is provided by the talks on the additional assistance to the citizens of European and other countries - victims of the nazi persecutions. Probably, the same political will is needed to make sure there were no more skeletons in the closets of the history of the Second World War. Despite all the differences there are topics which should never give rise to disputes of principle. One of them is undoubtedly the Holocaust. The Republic of Belarus is ready to co-operate with the international community in the research on the Holocaust. I would like to attract the attention of the participants to the Conference to our suggestion voiced at the Washington conference (1998). Its essence was the need to expand the list of countries that had suffered the most during the Second World War and the nazi occupation and to include Belarus in it. The continued omission in the list of a country which lost one third of its population in the fight against nazism would mean an insult to the memory of the victims of nazism and the Holocaust. Cleansing of history, its politicization, glossing upon the victims and the Holocaust, all these are the same as ethnic cleansing. The Republic of Belarus is convinced that bias and intolerance in all their forms must be finally relegated to the past. We hope that this Conference will do right to this noble goal. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars Closing Session and Declaration Other Activities |
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||