Presently, Divin has become much larger than it was prior to the war, during the time of Polish leadership.

All of the people living on the farm hamlets have been relocated to Divin. Previously our town had 4 streets. Now there are twenty-two of them and Divin is considered a village. The streets are named:

No.	Russian Name	Transliteration	Translation
1	Ленина	Lenina	Lenin St.
2	{70} Советская	Sovietskaya	Soviet St.
3	Октябрьская	Oktyabr'skaya	October St.
4	Комсомольская	Komsomol'skaya	Komsomol St.
5	Луговая	Lugovaya	Meadow St.
6	Суворова	Suvorova	Suvorov St.
7	Тракторная	Traktornaya	Tractor St.
8	Колхозная	Kolkhoznaya	Collective Farm St.
9	Озерная	Ozernaya	Marsh St.
10	17-го Сентября	17-go Sentyabrya	17th September St.
11	Первомайская	Pervomayskaya	Day St.
12	Новая	Novaya	New St.
13	Спортивная	Sportivnaya	Sport St.
14	Пролетарская	Proletarskaya	Proletarian St.
15	Старосельская	Starosel'skaya	Old-Agriculture St.
16	Заречная	Zarechnaya	Nina St.
17	Рыбацкая	Rybatskaya	Fishing St.
18	им. Горького	im. Gor'kogo	them. Gorky
19	переулок Бригадный	Pereulok Brigadnyy	Brigadier Lane
20	переулок Огородный	Pereulok Ogorodnyy	Vegetable Garden Lane
21	переулок Школьный	Pereulok Shkol'nyy	School Lane
22	переулок Больничный	Pereulok Bol'nichnyy	Hospital Lane

The former Kobryn and Ratnensky streets have been joined into one big street, which was named Lenin Street. And Povits and Brest streets were joined and named Soviet Street.

The naming of the streets and changes to the house numbers were made in 1957.

On the 1st of January, 1967, the settlement of Divin consisted of 4,242 people. Households and families – 1,342, including those of farmers – 836, of workers and employees – 424, and others – 82.

The center of Divin changed a lot: two-story brick houses were built, concrete sidewalks were laid, ornamental trees were planted.

A small park was planted at the site where there was previously a square. The park is landscaped for people’s recreation. There is a grave at the center of the park in which 70 people were buried: the officers, soldiers, sergeants and guerilla fighters that perished in the struggle against the German occupiers. Next to the grave there is a monument – an obelisk with the inscription:

Below that follows the inscription:

Three slabs were laid on the grave, with inscriptions of the last, first and patronymic names of all those buried.

Every year, on the eve of Victory Day, the 8^th of May, all of the residents of Divin (farmers, workers, those serving enterprises and establishments, medical staff, pupils: from the seven-year school, from the ten-year and from a boarding school, with their {71} teachers, with an orchestra of the youth from the boarding school) come to the grave of the fallen fighters and shot patriots. They bring wreaths and flowers, deliver speeches. Inhabitants of Divin of all ages hold sacred the memory of the heroes who gave their lives in the fight for our homeland. They remember all of our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who have died at the hands of Hitler’s executioners.

All of this happens ceremoniously, music plays, all of the inhabitants of Divin get together. At the conclusion of everything, the people commemorate those who perished with a minute of silence.

On the territory of Divin village-council there is one other mass grave (No. 15) in the village of Or. There, there are buried: 2 officers, 2 sergeants, 15 soldiers, and 9 guerillas; in total 28 people.

People remember and commemorate these fighter-warriors because they didn’t pity their own lives for their homeland and our freedom. They paid for all of this with the most expensive price – their own lives.

Presently, in the center of a former landowner’s estate, a dairy factory was built and is in operation. At the same site, good mechanical shops for agricultural machinery were built. By the lake, a vegetable dehydration plant was constructed, as well as a good cafeteria and a big bakery. The bakery supplies bread and confectionary creations to Divin and all of the surrounding villages.

In Poland and Tsarist Russia we did not have any of this. Now we have everything, even an excess of things in comparison with the past.

Currently, there are three schools in Divin: the seven-year, the ten-year, and a boarding school. In the boarding school, children live and study for free, completely at the government’s expense. They are provided with everything: food, clothing and housing. In all of the schools, the students are dressed neatly and cleanly. Nobody wears bast shoes. These shoes are a thing of the past, just like Poland and Tsarist Russia.

Divin has two libraries: a children’s library and a general one with a large quantity of books. Two farm clubs were built during this time, along with a movie theater. The club hosts evenings with dancing and a theatrical studio. (There are plans for the construction of a new movie theater that seats 400 people).

A large sports complex was built for the recreation of the people.

A clinic was built with an x-ray room. The clinic houses a round-the-clock ambulance service. There are two hospitals, one general and one for tuberculosis patients, with a total of 150 beds, and a full staff of medical and technical personnel. There is also a dentist’s office and a dental technician.

In 1948, for the time in Divin’s history, a surgeon began working in the hospital. His name: Nikolai Andreyevich Frolov. Surgeon Myron Stanislovovich Goretsky became his successor. He still works in the hospital in Divin. Hundreds of people are grateful to him for having saved their lives. In dire times, he even conducts complex operations.

{72} Divin also has a veterinary clinic, in which household pets are helped and treated.

An industrial plant was opened and now successfully operates. It has a blacksmith, carpenter, and furniture shops.

A consumer goods plant contains a shoe factory, tailor shop, photography lab, and a hairdressing salon. Divin also has a working postal service, telegraph service, radio broadcasting center, and savings bank.

Many of Divin’s young men and women have graduated with advanced degrees in accordance with their calling, abilities, and aspirations.

Currently, more than 20 of them work as teachers and doctors. More than 15 people are serving in the Soviet Army as officers. Our young people work as engineers, geologists, and in other specializations.

All of this was made possible and attainable thanks to the Soviet regime.

I hope and believe that this will continue into the distant future. For the young people, the road is open to attend any of the educational institutions across the country. They can receive an education in accordance with their abilities. After graduation, they have the ability to occupy positions in accordance with their education and attained specialization.

As a gray-haired old man, I often recall my past life. It had its share of happy days, but our years of youth were spent the same as were our fathers’ and grandfathers’: in hard labor and perpetual worries. Our children and grandchildren have a different life. They cannot imagine that we lived without electricity, buses, radio receivers, televisions, gramophones, refrigerators, washing machines, motorcycles, cars, and even more so airplanes and helicopters. When we tell them about our previous life, our kids, grandkids and other young people either do not believe us or do not want to understand us. They look at us with suspicion, as if at people from some other planet.

In pre-revolutionary times and under Poland, there was a very bad dirt road that led from Divin to the city of Kobryn. Such was its state that at some times of the year it was impossible to use for the transport of goods. There were times that with an empty cart, as they say, with broken grief we could make our way through it.

In present times, this is an asphalt highway, which has constant bus service running to various directions, for example, Brest-Divin-Povit, Kobryn-Divin-Goravitsa, Kobryn-Habarische (Ukraine SSR), Kobryn-Divin-Ratno (Ukraine SSR), Kobryn-Divin-Borisovka, Kobryn-Divin. Since 1966, a highway is being laid in Divin on Soviet Street towards the village Povit. As well, roads towards the villages of Ossa and Lelikov are being erected. For now there is a gravel road.

{73} If before, as far as I remember, Divin was seriously trailing in all of its home life and culture, then in current times it has changed beyond recognition, as they say, fundamentally. All of the people live richly and in contentment, with the exception of old men and women.

Previously, our people built themselves simple homes for shelter. The main objective was to have a home that was warm, leaving behind any considerations for convenience, beauty, and sanitary provisions. None of the homeowners thought of these things. These were not houses, but rural shacks. For lighting, they used splinter or kerosene lamps. Now, everything has changed. Houses are built strong, with big, wide windows for light. Amenities are planned to be inside of the houses. The houses are kept clean, comfortable, and equipped with furniture. Every house has electric lighting, which we are supplied with from the Bereza Hydropower Plant, which was built during the Soviet regime.

Each home has a radio. But most people are in possession of radio receivers and radio-gramophones. The majority of homes have television antennas on their roofs. This is a sign that people own and use television sets.

The bicycle was at one time a luxury item and a distant dream form the poor farmer. Today, the bicycle has become commonplace; they are kept in each home. Sometimes there are even two bicycles per family. The population of our Divin has 80 motorcycles, while four people even have their own automobiles.

Our Diviners have begun to buy themselves goods that are not of immediate necessity, as had been the case under Poland. They buy items of convenience and luxury.

The construction of houses has also changed. The foundations for new houses are made from brick and concrete. Sheet metal, slate, tiles are used or the roofs of houses.

Many farmers and workers have built themselves brick homes, and continue to build more.

Our people live better and more richly with every passing year. This is something we should all rejoice. But all of this wealth and good fortune which has emerged for our Divin farmer, peasant, and worker has not fallen out of the sky, and neither did anyone give us or present us with this gift. All of this, all that the people have now has not transpired by itself, and has not grown like a mushroom after the rain, but rather it was attained through persistent and hard work.

During the war, there were many destroyed villages and many houses were burned down. In order to restore these things, it was necessary to have various building materials. We had to have the monetary means to buy these things. And only then could we apply our labor to build everything that we have in Divin today.

The war destroyed not only our Divin. Thousands of settlements were destroyed, and that is only in our Belarus.

Currently, cities and villages of the Belarus SSR and in the whole of our Soviet country that have been turned into ruins and ashes by the enemy have been rebuilt anew. Our long-suffering Homeland has risen from the ruins and come back to life. Life in our country was reborn and flourishes, thanks to the efforts of our Soviet people.

{74} Many years ago, in 1898, the inhabitants of our Divin bought a plot of land from a landowner in the area of Proidy. The plot had an area of three and a quarter dessiatines. Its price was 30 rubles for each dessiatine. This land was designated for the cemetery. After the purchase, it was necessary to conduct some reconstruction on this plot. The farmers cleared and leveled the land and dug ditches. There they started to conduct burials.

After many years, the trench dug around the cemetery collapsed, and a large pine forest sprouted up in the cemetery. Pedestrians and bicyclists laid a paved road through the cemetery. In short, everything had fallen under mismanagement and was overgrown. In the years of 1954 – 1955, Divin started to become the center of the region. The Divin leadership raised the issue of the restoration of the cemetery and its enclosure. For this cause, an amount of 40,000 rubles was allocated, but all of this ended with talk and nothing was actually done.

In the summer of 1963, the Divin village-council reverted back to this issue. The chairman of the Divin village-council, comrade Alexander Klochkovich, posed the question of restoring the cemetery through pooled public funds to a session of the village-council. The session approved this proposal.

The Divin village-council elected 12 people who received the rights to collect funding moneyfrom the public. Almost all of our Diviners willingly supported this good cause. Each family happily donated 1 ruble and 50 kopecks, as was asked. There were even those that were able to give 2 or 3 rubles. Unfortunately, some other families refused to give money when they were asked to by the collectors. But the task was not stopped and the necessary fund was fully amassed.

The total of the collected funds was 1,388 rubles. In December of 1963 and early January of 1964, some 46 cubic meters of forest was taken out to create the cemetery fence. This wood was delivered to the wood mill, where the material for the fence was produced. This turned out to be 650 columns of three meters tall and 6,000 smaller risers.

As well, 8 tons of cement was purchased for the production of concrete pillars, 570 kg of wire, and 110 kg of nails.

All of these materials had to be transported to the site of installation. This was also a problem. The overseer of the Divin collective farm New Life, comrade N. S. Sokolyuk had rendered great help. He provided the transport for the removal and delivery of all the materials to the worksite.

Thus, through everyone’s joint efforts, the cemetery was fenced in June of 1964. Created in the enclosure were gates through which one could drive, on both sides, as well as a front entrance gate. This is how the good deed was completed; through common labor and the participation of our residents. We brought the burial site, our cemetery, to a worthy appearance. In it are buried those departed from us {75} forever; dear relatives and those close to us: fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters, as well as friends and comrades.

This is a holy place and it should look adequately worthy. The law of nature is such: he, who is not born, will not die. The limits of human life are very short, and no matter for how long a person lives he will still leave some matters unresolved. So we should not get depressed nor complain, but use our lives while we’re alive.