82 years ago, Red Army troops liberated prisoners of Ozarichi death camp

Eighty-two years ago, on March 19, 1944, Red Army troops liberated the prisoners of the Ozarichi death camp.

The Wehrmacht deployed a human shield on the front lines of defense. 50,000 elderly, women, and children were driven into the swamps. They were kept outdoors at minus 15 degrees Celsius, without food, water, or warm clothing. The prisoners were infected with typhus. The average life expectancy was three days. The Third Reich used biological weapons in the Polesie swamps. This was done to halt the advance of Soviet troops.

The creation of the Ozarichi death camps, of which there were three (Dert, Ozarichi, and Podosinnik), is considered the greatest crime committed by the Wehrmacht during the World War II.

Konstantin Mishchenko, Deputy Director of the Gomel Regional Museum of Military Glory:

"Our troops were expanding their territory to prepare for Operation Bagration. Against this backdrop, the front needed to be moved, and the troops came into the area where a special death camp had been discovered in Ozarichi. Not only were 7,000 sick prisoners herded there, but also a German infectious disease specialist, Dr. Blumenthal, arrived. He brought germs, which were loaded into aerosols and sprayed over the camp from a low-flying plane. This explains the high mortality rate during those days."

Of the 50,000 prisoners, less than half miraculously survived. Even 82 years later, the memory of those 10 days spent in Ozarichi has not been erased.

Elena Teslenko, former prisoner of the Ozarichi death camp:

"There were three of us at my mother's house. Three girls. One of us was sick with typhus. A German approached her and hit her in the back with a machine gun. Her arms and legs were paralyzed. She spent one night and died."

Today, a commemorative rally will be held at the Ozarichi memorial complex in memory of the victims. Eighty-two years later, Belarus remembers the innocent victims of Nazism and will not allow the falsification of history.