Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
MINSK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — Sunbeams broke through the thin clouds, illuminating the bustling Pobediteley Avenue in Minsk on Friday. Here, in the Victory Hall of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, hundreds of visitors were carefully examining dozens of historical photographs. They were joined by new people every hour, who also stopped in front of the photographs, peered at them and pondered.
"We know too little about the history of the Eastern Front of World War II, about the struggle of the Chinese people against the Japanese invaders. It is no less dramatic, no less sacrificial. China paid a huge price – 35 million lives. The history of the resistance of the Chinese people for the independence and sovereignty of the country was of great importance for the fate of humanity," Andrei Savinykh, deputy chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, shared with a Xinhua correspondent.
The photo exhibition entitled “Remembering the Past, Creating the Future” in honor of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War was organized by the Chinese Embassy in Belarus, the Minsk and Jiangsu Bureau of Xinhua, China Image Group with the support of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War and the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum. About 70 photographs tell about the contribution of the Chinese nation to the victory over fascism and the military friendship of the peoples of China and the USSR.
"This exhibition is amazing in its emotional impact," said Dmitry Zhuk, director and editor-in-chief of the Belarus Segodnya publishing house. "The contribution of China and the Chinese people to the victory over fascism is enormous; without this struggle there would be no common victory for humanity."
In turn, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus for International Affairs Alexei Avdonin noted: “We can clearly see from the photographs here what violence, what atrocities militaristic Japan brought to the Chinese people. There was a brutal occupation of coastal territories, entire settlements in China were cut out. And of course, the whole world should understand that China was the first to experience the full power of fascist nationalist ideology already in the 1930s, when Hitler was just coming to power in Europe.”
History is the best teacher and photographs are the best storytellers.
One of the photographs, showing a child crying next to a railway, touched the deputy director for research at the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, Rimma Rum. It was August 28, 1937, when Japanese troops bombed the Shanghai railway station, killing more than 200 women and children and injuring countless others. “Many children died in this war — it is a terrible tragedy. Children also died on the territory of Belarus during the Nazi occupation, the Nazis committed a large-scale atrocity against the entire Belarusian people, and a huge number of children died,” said R. Rum.
D. Zhuk was also shocked: “This photograph is evidence of an inhuman, incomprehensible attitude towards people. This photograph contains the entire horror of war.”
Several photographs were provided by the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum. Its director, Zhou Feng, noted that this is the second exhibition of the massacre archives in Belarus since 2018, which once again recalls the shared anti-fascist history.
"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the inclusion of the Nanjing Massacre documents in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. These archives are not only a record of history, but also a memory carrier that reminds the world of crimes against humanity," Zhou Feng said.
"I have been to Nanjing and Wuhan, the cities that suffered the most from the Japanese invaders. We, Belarusians, understand the pain of this tragedy like no one else," said Igor Lutsky, Chairman of the Board of the Second National TV Channel of Belarus. "We are doing everything to ensure that the new generations that come do not forget this tragedy, the history of the joint heroic struggle."
"During the Great Patriotic War, the city of Minsk was destroyed by almost 80 percent. Only a few buildings remained completely intact here when Minsk was liberated on July 3, 1944," added R. Rum. According to her, a common historical memory connects Nanjing and Minsk, Belarus and China, "this lays the foundation for our friendship and our cooperation."
"For China, World War II began on September 18, 1931 in Shenyang, and for Belarus and the USSR – on June 22, 1941 in the Brest Fortress. It is symbolic that today the provinces of Liaoning and the Brest region of Belarus have become sister cities," said First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov at the opening of the exhibition. "This exhibition will open a new chapter in the friendship of our countries and strengthen our cooperation in the international arena."
A. Savinykh, for his part, emphasized that mutual understanding and friendship between Belarus and China are based on common memory. “We know what war is, what hardships it brings, and we are ready to strengthen peace, ready to strengthen honest equal cooperation of sovereign nations. That is why our relations are so stable and prosperous.”
On the streets of Minsk, as in Nanjing, tall buildings symbolize rebirth. The exhibition opened on the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender. In a land scorched by war, Chinese photographs and Belarusian memories intertwine, telling of a shared struggle and unbreakable friendship.
History cannot be rewritten, victory is forever inscribed in the annals, and a peaceful future must be protected together.
“Our task for the new generation is to preserve and show this memory, to prevent lies from penetrating historical materials and distorting history,” A. Avdonin summed up. –0–
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