Hello everybody! Belarus has many cultural and historical sights. Some of them have a tragic fate, while others were restored from the ashes and exist to this day. One is a separate category of places reminiscent of the occupation period of the Second World War. Accidentally driving along a regional road linking small towns, we saw a brown sign (in Belarus, such signs lead to sights). A long forest road took me deep into the forest, to a place where in the last century there was a village called Ola. In memory of the past events, a memorial complex was opened here in June 2020. Unfortunately, not many even in Belarus know about this place.
The village of Ola was formed in 1875. Before the start of the occupation, 168 people lived there, but by the time of the last day of existence, the population reached 1,758 people. Mostly they were immigrants from neighboring villages. Now there is a forest on the site of the village, and the fact that people have ever lived here is reminiscent of a memorial complex. The territory is divided into three zones: entrance, memorial and walking route.
This memorial shows a map of the destroyed villages of the Gomel region.
The entrance group of the memorial includes a small chapel, an administrative building and the Portal of the Main Entrance with the name Ola.
The inscription on the administrative building - "Remember..."
Between the entrance group and the memorial area there is a pedestrian route paved with tiles and cobblestones. This is a forest section of the road with a length of 292 meters, which is a former village street. Along the alley there are 34 stelae 3.3 m high, stylized in the form of gates of village houses. Although I immediately thought that these elements do not represent gates, but houses. On the way, you have to go through three portals located perpendicular to the alley. They bear inscriptions indicating the number of victims in the tragedy in the village of Ole. The outer boundaries of the walking route are marked with decorative concrete fences that repeat the outlines of the border of the forest.
The memorial zone is the main part of the final perspective of the walking route. The central element is a memorial sign in the form of a belfry. It is stylized in the form of a village barn and is located on a 5-step stone pedestal. Inside the belfry there is an alarm bell and a cross. Behind her are two marble horizontal steles with the inscriptions: "We live, we remember" and "We remember us alive."
To the right of the belfry there is a memorial stele with a brief description of the former village of Ola and the mass grave existing on the territory.
On the left side there is a third stele with the name of 12 villages of the Zhlobin and Svetlogorsk districts, whose inhabitants were in the village of Ola during the tragedy. In front of this stele there is a concrete installation-portal with 12 bells hanging in a row. Each bell symbolizes one of the 12 villages. It looks spectacular.
On the square between all the steles there are massive stones with sculptural images dedicated to the events in the village of Ola. Belarusian sculptors worked on each of the cobblestones during the summer of 2019.
Despite its deplorable history, the Ola Memorial Complex is a peaceful place. Being in the middle of the forest, you are in unity with nature and nothing interferes with you. I was surprised that Ola is a little known place hidden in the woods. But I think things will change soon. One way or another, once again thanks to architecture, I received a lesson in history.
The inscription at the exit from the memorial complex - "Remember".
Photo information:
Author: @danny.green
Camera: Nikon D5200
Location: Ola memorial complex (former Ola village), Belarus
Thanks to everyone who reads and supports. Best regards from @danny.green.