For the Diviners, the initial period of the war, bringing the Soviets to the region, was quiet and hopeful. But in mid-1941, the Nazis turned on their former ally, the Soviets, and moved east –Operation Barbarossa– bringing to the Diviners a period of unparalleled suffering.
But all of our Diviners, along with all of the Russian people, were to experience other, unforeseen calamities.
On June 22, 1941 fascist Germany treacherously attacked our peaceful birthplace. The peaceful labor of the Soviet people had been interrupted. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the German invaders began. On the first day of the war the enemy occupied our provincial center – the city of Brest. On the 27
th of June, 1941, enemy tanks broke into the capital of our republic, Minsk. The enemy swiftly and quickly moved along to the east, already considering itself victorious. This was because the Germans prepared well for this invasion, concentrating enormous troop forces and equipment here. In addition, a central role was played by the unexpectedness of the attack.
{
62} Deep behind enemy lines, defenders of the Brest Fortress bravely fought for a long time.
Many districts had been occupied by the enemy. The Communist Party and Soviet government appealed to the people to ask to put up resistance to the occupiers. Communists and
Komsomol members, non-partisan, non-union workers and young people at large occupied areas and began to create guerrilla units. They helped the soldiers of the Soviet Army in the fight against the German occupiers.
Guerilla groups were created and operated on the territory of our Divin district. They were located around the village of Svaryn. Here, an active battle against the German occupiers was led by the following guerilla groups: named Chkalov, Shors, Kalinin, Kotovsky, Chapaev, Federov, 44th Combative, and Flengentov Brigade.
In the 44th Combative unit, our Diviners and people from other, neighboring villages participated and fought the Germans. With weapons in hand, they took revenge on the enemy for the enslavement of their own people and for the seizure of our beloved homeland.
The resistance fighters were supplied and supported by air:
Near the village of Svaryn, the guerillas equipped an airfield in the forest, where planes from the mainland brought weapons, ammunition, medicines, literature, newspapers, and many other things. They supplied the guerillas with everything necessary for combat and life. On the return flight, the planes took seriously injured guerillas back to the mainland for treatment.
The ongoing work of the airfield and its security was provided by the squad named N.A. Shors.
In the Svaryn village, and the surrounding hamlets, a hospital was arranged, in which the honored BSSR doctor Illyin Steven Trofimovich worked.
The guerillas disrupted the German warehouses, and blew up trains, which were headed to the frontlines with combat equipment and forces. They destroyed entire German garrisons in the settled towns.
The resistance succeeded in forcing a temporary respite of the German occupation of Kobryn. But the brutality of the Germans was overwhelming.
In the autumn of 1943, the guerillas blew up and chased out a German garrison in our Divin. The Germans were forced to move, along with all of their equipment, and resettle in the city of Kobryn. For the second time in their short lives, many people found themselves under German rule again.
In the autumn of 1941, the Germans began to introduce their “new order” here. As usual, this order was accompanied by bloody terror. From our settlements the Germans demanded sheep’s wool, boots, and warm fur coats or tanned sheepskin, in other words everything that provisioned the German Army for the winter period.
The Germans took everything under strict accounting and control. They took for themselves cows, sheep, pigs, as needed, and installed a strict, minimal standard for the people.
Our settlement was ordered to turn over hand-millstones and butter churns to a specified location. The peasants had no right to slaughter {
63} calves, sheep, kill hogs, or grind grain in the mill. For all of this it was necessary to receive permission. Violators of this order were threatened with death.
Hundreds of our peaceful Diviners, young men and women were taken away to the depths of Germany for various jobs.
It is hard to describe the suffering and anguish which our Diviners had to endure, having fallen under the temporary occupation of the Germans.
In Divin, we had a population of greater than 1,300 people of Jewish nationality. These were the original inhabitants of Divin. In early 1942, the Germans established a ghetto for the Jews in the south-western part of Divin. All of the Jews of our district were forcibly rounded up there. An order was issued that all of the Jews had to wear a yellow patch of material in the form of a circle on their outer clothing.
Then, in July or August of 1942, began the mass extermination of Jews. The Germans ordered all of them to gather in one empty room. These people dug a large ditch at night under the orders of the Germans. In the morning of the next day, the Germans started to walk people out of the room, a few people at a time, undress them, walk them over to the excavated pit, in which they were placed one on top of the other, and then shot.
In total the Germans shot dead close to 1,500 Jewish people in Divin (of different ages and genders).
The grave of the murdered Jews was located in the center of Divin, near the steam mill.
In some cases, non-Jews of the town suffered the same fate.
In the same vicinity was located a common grave in which about 100 people of different nationalities were buried.
In this tomb were several of our Divin families who were shot dead, falling victim to the German executioners. They were all true sons of our homeland.
The German brutality was systematic and long-term. The author summarizes actual German documents describing their policies and operations.
Soon after, the Germans began to conduct punitive operations in the villages of the Divin area and its surroundings.
I present excerpts from the translated German orders of that time (written down in an abridged format):
Orders for destruction of 3 villages near Divin:
No. 15
From the operational order of the Commander of Battalion No. 15 of the Police Regiment about the destruction of the villages Borka, Zabolote, and Borisovka.
22 September 1942 (classified)
Operation order of the destruction of villages.
1. September 23rd, 1942 the battalion destroys locations poisoned with the bandit’s disease in the district to the north-east from Mokran, the villages: Borka, Zabolote, and Borisovka.
Golling, Mayor of Security Police.
A follow-up communication gave grim details of the destruction of the village Boriskova, the murder of most of its inhabitants, and the pillaging of its resources.
{
64} No. 16
Report of the commander of the 9
th Company of the punitive expedition in the village of Borisovka from the 22
nd to the 26
th of September, 1942:
1. Assignment: Village of Borisovka, infected with bandits, must be destroyed by the 9
th Company
2. Forces: 2 platoons of the 9
th Company of the 15
thPolice Regiment, one motorized platoon of gendarmes, and one platoon of antitank guns from Bereza Kartuzskaya.
3. Execution: company gathered the evening of the 22
ndof September in Divin. On the night of the 22
ndto the 23
rd of September, 1942, a march was led from Divin to the direction of Borisovka. By four in the morning the village was surrounded from the north and south by two platoons. The mayor gathered all of the people of Borisovka at dawn. After verification of the inhabitants, five families considered trustworthy were allowed to leave for resettlement in Divin. The rest of the residents of Borisovka were shot by a specially-selected team. All were buried 500 meters to the northeast of the Borisovka village. A total of 169 people were shot. Of these: 49 men, 97 women, and 23 children. After this act, the police combed the whole area around the village in search of possible survivors left alive. All of the cattle, rural inventory was gathered and sent to Divin. Sent were: 445 heads of large, horned cattle, 225 sheep, 258 pigs, 23 horses, 13 chickens, 399 bags of grain, 48 bags of flax seed, 25 carts of grain, 27 carts of canvas.
In general, destroyed in the destination village were 12 rural households and 8 sheds, as well as 67 farms.
At noon on the 26
thof September the entire act was completed. The village and inhabitants had been destroyed.
Casper, company captain and commander.
No. 17
The shooting of the inhabitants of the Borka village.
Shot were 705 people. Of these: men – 203, women – 372, children – 130.
Mueller, Chief Lieutenant Performing responsibilities of company commander
Zabolote was the third village. It was looted and its inhabitants were murdered:
No. 18
The results of the operation of the destruction of the village Zabolote.
From 22
ndof September, 1942 Next: shot were 289 people, burned were 151 houses and rural dwellings, taken were 700 headsof horned cattle, 400 pigs, 400 sheep, and 70 horses.
{
65} Taken breads: 300 quintals of ground and 500 quintals of unground grain. Confiscated more than 150 pieces of agricultural machinery.
Pells, company captain and commander
The 9thCompany completes an operation involving the extermination of Jews in the town of Samara. Executed were 80 people.
(Taken from the Journal of Combat Operations Battalion)
In this way, the German ruffians brought about their order in Divin and in all of the territory that they occupied.
The author summarizes the destruction and puts it in perspective by listing the populations as of 1969:
List of settlement locations destroyed in the 1941-1944 years by the German occupiers, in Divin’s district.
| No. |
Description |
Name of settlement |
| Divin |
Lipava-Or |
Lielikava |
| 1 |
Number of households before the war |
1086 |
64 |
35 |
| 2 |
Their populations, persons |
5800 |
330 |
1338 |
| 3 |
Destroyed households |
145 |
42 |
20 |
| 4 |
Destroyed population, persons |
1450 |
– |
43 |
| 5 |
Taken away for fascist enslavement, persons |
273 |
4 |
40 |
| 6 |
Among those taken away, returned, persons |
50 |
2 |
30 |
| 7 |
Died at the front in World War II, persons |
67 |
14 |
40 |
| 8 |
Died in the guerilla squads,persons |
15 |
– |
4 |
| 9 |
Population of the 1st of January, 1969, persons |
4576 |
236 |
1578 |
The original list had many inaccuracies due to the passage of time.
In November 1942, the valiant Red Army adopted a counter-offensive against the Germans near Stalingrad (now Volgagrad). This yielded a good result. The enemy’s defense was breached. It turned out that German divisions in the surroundings were composed of 330,000 soldiers.
In January and early February, 1943, German forces led by General Von Paulus were completely liquidated.
{
66} Following this success of the Soviet Army and the unprecedented defeat of the Nazis at the Volga River, guerrilla movements were intensified. This led to the Germans suffering defeat in the rear, as well. They were forced to retreat to the West. In their defense, they said, they were doing this strategically, according to the decisions of the General Staff, but that soon they would have a secret weapon, which would decide the outcome of the war, and that they would be the victors.
But nothing could save the Nazis. They retreated not strategically, but in a panic, shaken in front of the Russian people because of their evil deeds. They felt the hour of their imminent demise and payment for their atrocities.
In the spring of 1944, from the southern side, on the outskirts of Divin, the Germans, built defensive trenches, often with firing nests. In the area of the settlements of Hmel and Okolitza, which are three kilometers from Divin, another large defensive line was erected. For the creation of these defensive trenches, the Germans used the peaceful civilians of our Divin.
But all of this turned out to be in vain. Fate had already determined that the fascist Germans were to meet their demise. No defensive trenches or trickery could save them. The formidable force of the Red Army and the courage of the Soviet people destroyed enemies everywhere, all over the occupied territory. The enemy retreated to the west.
No battle was fought; the Germans were forced to retreat by the superior Soviet forces.
In their flight from Divin, the Germans left mines on the streets and roads. Several of our Diviner people suffered from this. Such were the memories that the Germans left of themselves, in gratitude for our hard labor and enslavement to them.
By the pity of the German occupants, the long-suffering Russian people of all of the fraternal Soviet Republics lived through distress, humiliation, hunger and the cold, and loss of friends and relatives. Despite this, the nation had enough strength and courage to drive out the enemy from its homeland. In addition, all of the Western countries were liberated from German occupation. Finally, for the Russian people arrived the long-awaited day, the day of victory over the enemy.
This was the 8th of May, 1945. On this day, in Berlin, Germany signed the act of unconditional surrender, acknowledging its defeat.
The beast of fascism was killed in its own lair. (This is how it was written on the posters of the time.)
