The Khatyn Story

You won’t find this Belarusian village on any of today’s most detailed maps. It was destroyed on March 22, 1943. Rampaging fascists burst into the village of Khatyn and surrounded it. The residents didn’t know that that morning, six kilometers from Khatyn, a column of fascists had been shelled by partisans—and as a result, a German officer was killed.

The entire population of Khatyn, from the youngest to the oldest, was driven out of their homes and herded into the communal barn. By the butts of their machine guns, they lifted sick people and the elderly from their beds; they did not spare women with small and nursing children. When all the villagers were in the barn, the fascists locked its doors, covered it with straw, poured gasoline over it, and set it on fire. The wooden barn ignited instantly. Children suffocated and cried in the smoke. Under the pressure of dozens of bodies, the doors couldn’t hold and collapsed.

People, burning in their clothes, filled with terror, rushed to flee—but those who managed to break out of the flames were executed cold-bloodedly with machine guns and rifles.

149 people died, including 75 children under sixteen. The village was looted and burned to the ground.

About these terrible events, Aleś Adamovich later wrote his famous “Khatyn Story,” an audio version of which we are happy to present to you.