The tragedy of the Belarusian village Drazhna: why Soviet partisans killed its inhabitants

We are all accustomed to hear about the atrocities of the German invaders during the great Patriotic war. There are many cases where punitive burned villages and killed their inhabitants for helping the partisans. But the fact that the Soviet partisans was not inferior to the cruelty of the Nazis, usually do not say. The history of the Belarusian village Drazhna, completely destroyed along with its inhabitants — an example of what cruelty was shown not only by the invaders.

"People's Avengers" burned the village Drazhna in the spring of 1943, simulating a fight with the policemen. Very long history of this village, located in Starye Dorogi district, on the South-East of Minsk region, was mentioned briefly and was presented as a victory of the guerrillas over the superior forces of the enemy.

Hero of the Soviet Union, partisans Stanislav Vaupshasov, wrote in his memoirs, published after the war, the following:

This was the first occasion when the partisans went to the dredge and tried to knock from the village the invaders. But success there was no smell — the attack was orchestrated quite mediocre combatants, after suffering heavy losses, returned to the forest. Vaupshasov never be told about their second visit to the village, which occurred a little later. The victims of this attacks the Avengers became not the Germans, and the civilians of the village.

This tragic story was not recorded in the reports and were not included in the memoir is kept in the memory of the few survivors of the massacre the villagers. Known to the masses it was only in the early 2000s, when local historian Victor hursik collected the memories of these people and published in the book "Blood and ashes Drazhna". Thanks to the work of enthusiast, about the tragedy of learned millions and it caught the interest of historians.

Witnesses said that the guerrillas entered the village early on the morning of April 14. Almost all the inhabitants were asleep when their house began to burn. While some Avengers did arson, others went to homes of the villagers and killed them in their beds. If someone tried to escape or hiding in barns and cellars, but they were found and also ruthlessly deprived of life.

Sergey Petrovsky, the son of the former Chairman of the village Council and one of the surviving eyewitnesses to the massacre said that all attempts to prove their loyalty to the Soviet regime were unsuccessful. Sergei's sister, Catherine, showed one of the fighters Komsomol card, which she kept sewn into the lining of a coat. This is not helped by partisans it was immediately shot.

That day in Drazhna death gathered a rich harvest. Were killed 217 people, mostly the elderly, women, children and people with disabilities. Spared not the forest, even the families of soldiers, which was not touched by the Nazis. 79 village policemen, armed and hiding in a German bunker nearby, didn't suffer with them "the Avengers" decided not to get involved.

Immediately after the guerrillas have gone back into the forest, in a broken and blood-drenched village joined the Germans, who immediately began to render medical assistance to survivors. The name of the commander of the guerrillas who staged a massacre, it is well known — it was Israel Lapidus from the order of Kutuzov.

But why the partisans did to the villagers? Many versions of what happened. One of them says that the violence is a punishment for a rebuff that the local self-defense unit in January of the same year gave the partisan unit. "People's Avengers," was also not happy as the Germans, because they took everything in the village, what they like, and take the latest products and livestock.

The executioner residents of Drazhna Israel Abramovich Lapidus

The village Drazhna was never a stronghold of resistance to the Soviet regime and habitat inveterate collaborators. During the repression 30-ies was arrested a total of three inhabitants of this settlement.

Another version says that the massacre was organized specifically in order to show the "success" of the squad Lapidus leadership in Moscow. Until the beginning of 1943, the partisans of this unit prefer to sit in remote corners of the forest and does not show.

It was therefore decided to conduct a "massive operation" in Drazhna, and killed to pass off as supporters of the occupiers and policemen. But in order that the deception did not open, had to destroy all the witnesses that tried to make the guerrillas.

I must say that the group of Kutuzov, despite its grandiose name, the behavior and methods of struggle more like a gang of wild marauders. This "up" repeatedly reported to the NKVD, the oversight of the unit.

Installation of memorable cross in the village Drazhna

I would like to say that the case of the only dredge of its kind, but it is not. Candidate of historical Sciences Elena Pavlova noted that commanders of partisan detachments was ordered to destroy all without exception, supporters of the Germans and no one to take prisoners.

Therefore, any garrison of policemen posted in the village, was a deadly threat to its residents. The fate of the dredge was repeated several Belarusian villages, e.g. village Luhacovice. As for Lapidus, who led the punitive operation, he lived a long life and died esteemed a hero-decorated.