Fallen Twice, or How the West Is Waging War Against Victory Memorials

Belarus and Russia have established a Commission for the Preservation and Protection of Historical Memory. The decision was made in Brest during a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the two countries. The West continues its war against granite monuments and does not cease its attempts to distort the truth about the events of the Second World War. About those who were killed twice — in a new episode of "By Form."

Latvia is planning mass destruction of memorials under the guise of research. One-third of the monuments over mass graves are subject to demolition. To give the appearance of civility to vandalism, authorities propose acting strictly according to the "law." Its essence involves conducting fictitious archaeological studies, which are supposed to refute the existence of mass burials beneath the memorials.

Such information is enough to send chills down the spine. But now, let us set aside emotions and present the facts. Hearing this without feeling is impossible.

Today, Belarus has approximately 9,000 monuments and graves dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Every year, dozens of new memorials are erected across the country, sites of Nazi concentration camps are restored, and memorial plaques are updated. Each spring, the 52nd Search Battalion of the Belarusian Armed Forces begins a new season of work to identify mass burial sites.

Currently, excavations are underway in the Pskov, Vitebsk, Rogachev districts, as well as in Mogilev and Veta. Over the past few months, more than 500 bone fragments have been discovered, the names of 12 fallen soldiers have been identified, and around 200 explosive devices have been found and neutralized.

Recently, on one of Minsk's construction sites, another mass grave was uncovered. The remains of 75 people have been resting in the center of Minsk for over 80 years. These include 60 men and 5 women; the rest are unidentified. A memorial reburial ceremony took place at the Chizhovskoye Cemetery. The event was conducted with full honors: with mourners paying their respects, flowers as a sign of respect, and a priest to bury our compatriots in a Christian manner.

Meanwhile, just a few hundred kilometers around Belarus, a different reality exists. After the Second World War, Poland installed 561 monuments to Red Army soldiers. Today, fewer than twenty remain. You can be sure that soon they will face the same fate.

Poland began dismantling these memorials in 2014. Besides demolishing, local authorities are rewriting memorial plaques, removing references to the Soviet liberation of Poland by the Red Army. The authorities justify the destruction by stating that these monuments "are dedicated to persons, organizations, events, or dates that symbolize communism or other totalitarian regimes."

In Estonia, recent acts of vandalism include museum staff destroying monuments dedicated to Red Army soldiers at the Tallinn military cemetery. The monument was bulldozed, with the process personally overseen by the museum director.

In August 2024, the Estonian government announced the start of a campaign to dismantle Soviet military memorials and re-bury the remains. A special commission was established, which counted 322 monuments over graves, of which 244 are slated for demolition or replacement.

Latvia also has new facts. In Riga, a military monument was dismantled, even though it was not on the official demolition list. The plaque was installed at the site of a former burial of Red Army soldiers—remains of 440 soldiers from the Medical-Sanitary Battalion of the 356th Rifle Division. Whether one more or less matters—today, Latvia has already torn down 255 Soviet war memorials.

Another vandal country is the Czech Republic. Recently, authorities dismantled the monument "Honor and Glory of the Soviet Army," erected in 1975 in the center of Litoměřice. Workers used a crane to dismantle the monument piece by piece. The local residents did not support the idea and organized a protest rally.

According to the Russian project "Cannot Forget," approximately 4,000 monuments dedicated to the heroism of Soviet soldiers were installed across Europe after the Second World War, and today, about 3,000 have been demolished.

The facts speak for themselves. Unfortunately, we cannot force Western countries to stop their vandalism. But we can do everything possible to ensure that our warriors in Belarus did not die twice.