Khatyn Massacre

Khatyn Massacre

Khatyn, Chatyń (Belarusian and Russian: Хаты́нь, ) was a village in Belarus, in Lahojsk district, Minsk Voblast. On March 22, 1943, the population of the village was massacred during World War II by the 118th Schutzmannschaft battalion, formed in July 1942 in Kiev, mostly from Ukrainian collaborators, prisoners of war and deserters and the Waffen-SS special battalion "Dirlewanger".

The massacre was not an isolated incident. At least 5,295 Belarusian settlements were destroyed by the Nazis and some or all their inhabitants killed. In the Vitebsk region 243 villages were burned down twice, 83 villages three times, and 22 villages were burned down four or more times. In the Minsk region 92 villages were burned down twice, 40 villages three times, nine villages four times, and six villages five or more times. Altogether, over two million people were killed in Belarus during the three years of Nazi occupation, about a quarter of the country's population.