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So what is a human? This is a being who always decides who he is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s Prayer on his lips.”

Viktor Frankl

The project “The Future is Uncertain, Memory is Real”. The Virtual Story of the Stalag-352 POW Camp in Minsk is implemented by the Belarusian Touristic Union with the support of the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ Foundation). The project used archival documents from the funds of the Belarusian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents.

The authors of the concept and creators of the content are the «Media-lab Glagol» studio. The project gathered together artists, animators, designers, journalists, culturologists, historians, members of the search group, archivists, developers, theater actors and directors.

3 languages ​

12 months of work

30 people in the team

What is Stalag 352?

Stalag 352 (ger. Stammlager) is one of the largest POW camps in Belarus during nazi occupation. It was created by Nazi Germany in Minsk and existed from July 1941 to July 1944. Structurally, it consisted of two parts: the «Forest Camp» on the territory of the military camp in Masiukovshchina and the «City Camp» — in the «Pushkin barracks» along the Logoisk tract. It killed about 80 thousand people. Of these, a little more than 14,000 prisoners were identified by name.

Now the territory and buildings of the «Forest Camp» are being attacked by vandals and seriously damaged. The last barrack that survived from that time was demolished in 2019. The surviving objects — a former infirmary, workshops, a canteen, an officer’s house, a bathhouse — make Stalag 352 a unique place. This is one of the few camp complexes on the territory of the former USSR, which has survived to this day. The media project “The Future is Uncertain, Memory is Real” is an attempt to preserve this place of memory, even if it disappears.

What is the project about and why is it important?

The policy of the Nazis towards Soviet prisoners of war can be called the policy of extermination. Most of the prisoners were waiting for a painful death from hunger, cold, unsanitary conditions, exhausting work, torture and beatings ... Jews, Soviet commissars and political officers were subject to immediate destruction. Despite this, the tragedy of Soviet prisoners of war was hushed up for a long time because of the stigma «enemy of the people.»

Our task is to make the history of the Stalag 352 prisoners of war visible. We offer a way not to reproduce the past, but to work it out — a way to look into the future.

The project website gives an opportunity to virtually immerse yourself in the history of the camp. This is a kind of an art diary, which combines documentary, author’s audio performance, atmospheric graphics and animations. By means of multimedia, we revive and fix memories, lines from archival documents and artifacts found on the territory of the camp. We give voice to those who could not speak before: camp prisoners, their relatives, eyewitnesses of crimes, German guards, members of search expeditions. All this helps to recreate a picture of the elusive events that took place in Minsk 80 years ago. The project, we hope, will give hope and an example of how in the most difficult times in inhuman conditions it is important to preserve a person in oneself ...

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Stories

First Days of the War

Stalag 352 was organized at the site of a military camp built in the 1930s in Masyukovshchina. Prior to the war, a military unit of the 7th Cavalry Division named after the English proletariat was located here, and a little later, the 355th Rifle Regiment

The Way to Captivity

Leonid Makarovich Vinnik told how he was taken to Stalag 352

The Road

Author’s animation based on the memories of prisoners of Stalag 352. Narrated by Belarusian actors of stage and screen

Camp Layout

Stalag was divided into two parts: a wooded one, near the village of Masyukovshchina (a district of Minsk at present) and an urban part — in the Pushkin barracks along the Logoisk tract in Minsk. The bulk of the prisoners were kept in the "Forest Camp”

SU Mark

Number instead of name

No Crosses, No Monuments

Everything that could be eaten was completely eaten: grass, frogs, birds, if you were able to catch them...

A New Way

“Wait, let me check his heart... Yes, he is alive!” — the medical assistant exclaimed. Little by little I began to get out of the “other world”...

300 lives per horse

When the incident was reported to Mauer, he was in a huff: “All the camp to the parade ground!”

Rescued by Women

He believed that he owed his life to this woman, he returned for this reason.- the story of survival of the Honored Architect of the Belarus Rudik Petr Safronovich

Bundle With Potatoes

Two girls walked through the whole of Minsk, in the rain, to give their mother a bundle with onions and boiled potatoes... The story of Irina Antonovna Iodo from Minsk, whose mother was taken to Stalag 352

Huts

There were so many lice in our clothes that we took off our dirty underwear and rolled bottles on it…

Jewish Cellar

- What comes next? - Haven’t you heard? This is the road to hell...

Kaput-Teams

Every day turned into a struggle for survival in unbearable conditions...

The Entertainers

In August 1942, an extemporaneous theater was opened on the basis of hut No.6, where the Germans sorted out about 60 artists from among the prisoners of war. Prior to the war there were a club-house of the military unit

Closed Hut

Despite the organization of the Ukrainian auxiliary police in the camp, the Germans took the Ukrainians ambiguously. The execution of 6 thousand persons in the winter of 1942 clearly shows that facts

Extermination by hunger

Stalag 352 was not an extermination camp, nevertheless everyday there was an extremely painful extermination by hunger…

Captive Truth

The correspondent wrote by hand at night, by lamp light, at the table of desk attendant. His comrades were ready to give a signal in case of danger...

Flowers for Senkin

“Flowers for Senkin” is a multimedia short story about one day in the life of Stalag 352 and the heroic deed of doctor Mikhail Senkin

Camp Resistance

Every prisoner could redress situation at any moment by coming down to side of the enemy, becoming an inspector, police goon or informer. But many prisoners of war chose escape as a more difficult and dangerous path

Leaflets In Hair

“My sister hid leaflets in my hair. I remember I was crying. We brought them to the cemetery of prisoners of war...” The story of Zinaida Chernousik about underground resistance

The Brazen Escape

Leonid Makarovich Vinnik, an ex-prisoner of Stalag 352, tells how he and his comrades made the most brazen escape within sight of the guards — the “escape in armored cars”

Disciplinary Cell

Going into a disciplinary cell was considered a terrible punishment. There were two in the camp…

The Toys

The clothes and shoes of the prisoners were often hand-made — sewed together from old overcoats, rags or even paper bags. Captive craftsmen made spoons, knives, razors and even toys

Torture on the Parade Ground

An incident caused by Captain Heinrich Lipp

Infirmary

The infirmary was a special place in Stalag. The three-storeyed barrack building turned to a place of mass mortality, a place of resistance and a symbol of fortitude of prisoners of war...

Invisible Heroes

After escape, the prisoners had nothing to hope for, but the help of local civilians...

Everyday Compulsory Labour

Soviet prisoners of war were treated as slaves for works in the East. The blitzkrieg plan failed, and the Wehrmacht had need of manpower. Millions of Soviet prisoners of war and civilians were taken to work in Germany

Recruitment

The camp police in the camps for Soviet prisoners of war is a unique phenomenon. There was nothing of the kind in the camps for Western prisoners of war...

The House At The Rail Crossing

The inhabitants of the house at the rail crossing at the corner of the military town witnessed a lot, but could not tell much...

The Pot Of Beans

Vladimir Grigorievich Karavaev was incredibly lucky in the camp: he was appointed as a stoker and lodged in a room at the commandant’s office. An unknown German military man brought him medicine for three days when he was sick, and an « incognito » supporter hoisted down a pot of beans into the boiler room for several times

The Bout

“If you don’t fight — you’re kaput!” The story of the boxing fight of Hauptmann Konrad Lipmann and prisoner of war Dmitry Menshenin based on the memories of Nikolai Kraev

The Italian Prisoners

Not only Soviet prisoners of war were kept in Stalag 352: 5000 Italian military internees (IMI) appeared in the camp in the autumn of 1943

Wardens and prisoners

The prisoners lived on their “nearly-life” simultaneously with the terrible tortures and executions, and the prisoners had to make a bargain with the Germans in order to survive. For the acts of humanity and «unallowed communication with prisoners of war» the camp guards were to subject to the disciplinary punishment (a day of close confinement) and the dispatch to the front

The Camp Is Non-existence

Captivity is some kind of nightmare. This is non-existence. This is a miserable, humiliating existence, not that of a person, but of some kind of animate creature...

Camp Evacuation

In the spring of 1943, the City Camp in the Pushkin barracks was closed up (the SS unit was located in its place after the evacuation of the camp infirmary); as the Red Army approached, the evacuation of the forest part of Stalag 352 began. First of all, the Germans started to hide evidences of their crimes...

Liberation

Survival is not enough