Exploring southern Belarus

I’d like to talk today about my visit to Belovezhskaya Puscha and Brest Fortress a couple of weeks ago. I went down on Friday by car arriving at the park in the early evening to be greeted by two women in traditional dress with salted bread and flowers, which is really nice.

And then on Saturday we had a tour of the museum from one of the deputy directors. It’s a lovely museum, it’s really well done. It has natural scenes with stuffed animals from the park, the ones, I’m assured, which have died naturally or from illness rather than being deliberately killed for the museum, of course. But it’s a really nice way to showcase the wildlife that’s in the park.

Then we had a tour by minibus of the park. I should add that I was with my 82-year-old mother, so hence a need for a minibus because the distances are quite large. We visited a traditional village. We also went to the place where Ded Moroz lives. We stood outside his house and we were told that if shouted loud enough ‘Ded Moroz! Ded Moroz!’ he would appear! So we played along not expecting anything to happen – but indeed, much to our amazement, a door opens slowly and this Ded Moroz with his long white beard and a big stick appeared, and that was a lot of fun. We were invited to stand beside him and make a wish, which we did.

We were also taken to a lovely big lake, it’s an artificial lake, and other particular spots in the park, really nice. In the afternoon I had some time to myself, so I took a bicycle and spent a couple of hours cycling around the park, following a vague sense of direction since I didn’t have a map. But I didn’t get lost, I did find my way back, which is good. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any wildlife. I think you have to go out very early in the morning to see any wildlife in their natural habitat. But we did see a bison and other animals in the open pens that they had at the park.

Then on Sunday we went to Brest Fortress, so quite a different day to Saturday. I’ve not been to Brest Fortress before. I’ve read a lot about it, so it was really wonderful, well ‘wonderful’ is not quite the right word, it was really moving to go to that place, the scene of so much tragedy and bloodshed, by very moving memorials.

We laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame.

There’s also a statue of the Thirst, the soldier who is lying on the ground reaching out for water with his helmet, which was a particularly moving monument because it brought home to you the very real suffering of the soldiers and civilians who were caught up in the fighting. And I think the attack by the Nazis came very unexpectedly, and one of their tactics was to starve the people into submission, of water and food.

We had a tour of the museum, very well researched and laid out, full of information, so it’s definitely worth another visit, because just the museum merits an entire day.

We also visited the garrison church which has been rebuilt and rededicated as a working Orthodox church, that was very interesting.

And the whole theme of war, bloodshed brought home again, you need to be reminded, of the position that Belarus occupies in Europe and how that has often brought it great tragedy. I hope that would not be the case in the future. But it has been the scene of much fighting in its history, and not just 20th century history.

But talking of wars of the 20th century I was at the Victory Day event on the 9th of May. I helped lay a wreath with my Russian and American colleagues. This is a day when the contribution of the veterans is remembered, and it’s a day when the victory is celebrated. It’s a very important day for veterans, for the focus to be on them and their contribution. And I could see that so many of them were wearing their medals proudly, with their family members with them. And it’s a day when they can meet and talk to past comrades of their shared experience.

In the UK we remember the war rather differently. It’s less of a celebration of victory, it’s more a memorial of those who have died. We hold it not on Victory Day, we don’t celebrate Victory Day in the UK which is the 8th of May. We celebrate the Armistice Day which is the day when fighting ceased in the WWI. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. So at 11 o’clock on the 11 of November we have a 2-minute silence around the country. So wherever you are, whether you’re at work, on the street, everything stops and people voluntarily observe a silence.

And on the closest Sunday to that day there is a big service at Westminster Cathedral and there’s a parade in central London. The Queen and the members of the Royal Family lay wreaths at the Cenotaph. The veterans, there are very few veterans now even from the WWII, I remember as a child when I watched the service on TV that we still had veterans from WWI, but of course over the years they have all left us and even now there’s a very small number of WWII veterans.

But the Remembrance Day, as we call it, is not just about the WWI and WWII, it’s also about all wars, including more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq and our soldiers who have fallen there. So it’s a day when we remember all people who have been killed in war, not just British soldiers, of course, but all soldiers from all Commonwealth countries who have fought on the same side as the UK.

In light of all this, I’d like to say that Belarus being a part of the peace talks on Ukraine contributes to stability in the whole region. And importance of stability cannot be overestimated. We must not forget atrocities of wars and make sure they never happen again.