Priests of four denominations, WW2 veterans and Białystok residents came on May 9th to a special memorial service for Red Army soldiers killed during the battle for the city in 1944.
Some events connected with the observances continued today.
25 years ago, Białystok citizens founded an Orthodox cross to the memory of the soldiers. The observances were organized by the Belarusian Consulate in Białystok with the Association of Polish Veterans and Political Prisoners.
Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Moslem priests prayed together for “tolerance, an end to stereotypes and prejudices” and for “the victims of wars, terror, dictatorship, violence and injustice in the world”.
It is calculated that up to twenty thousand Red Army soldiers of different nationalities, including Polish, perished in World War 2 in the Podlasie region. Several hundred are buried in two Białystok cemetaries, and many namelessly in collective graves.
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