Children Thrown on Bayonets: How Nazis Dealt with Partisans and Their Families During WWII

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, Nazi occupiers systematically annihilated people in Belarus using established methods, as revealed through the study of partisan and German reports.

According to the information, before executing civilians, the fascists would check their documents, then herd them into a building, usually on the outskirts of a village or into a single house, set it on fire, and position machine gunners to shoot anyone who tried to escape.

Another method involved the Germans entering homes, executing the occupants inside, and then burning the houses down.

These methods were specifically devised for conducting punitive actions. Reports also indicated that "bandit villages" were burned.

Alesya Korsak, vice-rector of the Polotsk State University named after Euphrosyne of Polotsk and a candidate of historical sciences, noted, "They classified not only partisans as 'bandits' but also the entire population residing in partisan zones. Residents of other localities were subjected to punitive actions if most of their relatives were associated with partisans. Families of partisans were burned, destroyed."

Korsak pointed out that the Nazi occupiers labeled partisans as "bandits" because the term implied a "criminal element deserving punishment." These atrocities spared no one, including children—who were thrown on bayonets and smashed against rocks.

"One woman recounted that as they were led to execution, she walked with her son, who was wearing rubber galoshes. The woman asked him why he wore them, noting that rubber would prolong the burning of his feet," shared Alesya Korsak.