On June 26, 1974, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the city of Minsk was awarded the honorary title of “Hero City” with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, Minsk found itself in the very center of battles, as it was in the direction of the main attack of the Nazis, on Moscow. The advanced units of the enemy troops approached the city on June 26, 1941. They were met by only one 64th Infantry Division, which in just three days of fierce fighting destroyed about 300 enemy cars and armored vehicles, as well as a lot of tank equipment. On June twenty–seventh, the Nazis were able to push back 10 km from Minsk – this reduced the striking force and the pace of the Nazis’ advance to the east. Nevertheless, after persistent and heavy fighting, on June 28, the Soviet troops were forced to retreat and leave the city.
The fascists established a strict occupation regime in Minsk, during which they destroyed a huge number of both prisoners of war and civilians of the city. But the courageous Minsk residents did not submit to the enemy, underground groups and sabotage detachments began to be created in the city, which even included anti-fascists from foreign countries. These heroes have committed over 1,500 acts of sabotage, as a result of which several military and administrative facilities were blown up in Minsk, as well as the city’s railway junction was repeatedly disabled. Partisan N. Troyan and underground workers M. Osipova and E.Mazanik especially distinguished themselves during the occupation period of Minsk – they destroyed the head of the Nazi administration, Commissioner of Belarus V.Kube in the city.
For their courage and heroism, 600 participants of the Minsk underground were awarded orders and medals, 8 people received the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1985, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Victory in Minsk, a 45-meter concrete obelisk “Hero City” was installed on Pobediteley Avenue. At its foot there is a bronze monument “Motherland”, in the form of a woman who raised the fanfare of Victory high above her head.
One of the most beautiful and majestic monuments to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, the Kurgan of Glory, is located at the entrance to Minsk. It is located in the place where in 1944, as a result of Operation Bagration, more than 100,000 German soldiers and officers were encircled in the so-called “Minsk Pocket”. In 1969, a huge mound was built at this place, on top of which an obelisk was installed. The total height of the entire monument is 70 meters.
Another memorable place in Minsk, recalling the feat of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, is Victory Square in the city center (Independence Avenue). In 1954, a gray granite monument was erected here in honor of the fallen partisans and soldiers of the Red Army. On its top there is a statue of the Order of Victory made of multicolored smalt and bronze, 3 meters high, and the total height of the monument is 40 meters. On July 3, 1961, an Eternal Flame was lit in front of the monument.
There was no such scale of the partisan movement as in Belarus anywhere else in the occupied territories of the USSR. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are as many as three monuments dedicated to the partisans in Minsk. Marat Kazei, a native of Minsk region, is one of the youngest Heroes of the Soviet Union. Being a scout of a partisan detachment, on May 11, 1944, he was ambushed by a German and took an unequal battle, fighting to the last bullet. In 1959, a sculpture of a pioneer hero depicting his last battle was installed in the park named after him. In Soviet times, the monument was very popular, solemn meetings were held near it and they were accepted as pioneers. In 2005, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, a monument “Belarus Partizanskaya” was opened near the Partizanskaya metro station. It is a 20-meter column made of solid granite, topped with bronze figures of a partisan family. At the foot of the column, two dozen figures among sculptured trees show in episodes the departure of the population into the forest and the formation of partisan detachments. The sculptural composition, originally intended to be placed at the top of the column “Belarus Partizanskaya”, was installed as a separate monument near the Minsk Automobile Plant. It has an unofficial name “A woman on a bison”, symbolizes the “Mother Belarus”, since the bison is the national symbol of Belarus.
Four times Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal G.K.Zhukov served in Belarus for about 17 years and went from commander of a cavalry squadron to deputy commander of the troops of the Belarusian Special Military District. And in the summer of 1944, it was under his direct leadership that Operation Bagration was carried out to liberate Belarus. In 2007, a bust of Zhukov was installed in the park named after him, which is located next to the avenue named after him.
The quarry, where Minsk residents took sand for construction before the war, was used by the Nazis to bury numerous victims of the Minsk ghetto. In memory of this, a black monument was erected at this place in 1947, on which there is an inscription in Yiddish and in Russian “To the Jewish victims of Nazism.” It was one of the very first monuments erected in Minsk after the war, known as the “Pit”. In 2000, a memorial “Monument to the victims of the Holocaust of the Minsk Ghetto” was opened near the obelisk on the descent, representing 27 figures going to be shot.
Representatives of many peoples inhabiting the Soviet Union fought on the territory of Belarus, among them were Kazakhs. During the war, about 20% of the population of Kazakhstan served in the ranks of the Red Army, of which about 70 people became Heroes of the Soviet Union for exploits committed on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. In 2008, with funds allocated by Kazakhstan and with the support of the Belarusian government, a monument to “Kazakhstani soldiers who died in Belarus” was unveiled in Minsk. The monument is located in the “Commonwealth” square, not far from the tractor plant and represents a soldier of the Soviet Army made of bronze on a granite pedestal next to the allegory “peacetime of Kazakhstan”.
From 1941 to 1944, Stalag 352 concentration camp existed in the village of Masyukovshchyna, a suburb of Minsk. It was one of the largest camps in the occupied USSR. Today, this area is part of the city. In memory of the victims of the camp, a memorial was created in 1956, and the eternal flame is burning.
During the fighting on the streets of Minsk on July 3, 1941, the crew of the Soviet T-34 tank launched a counterattack when the enemy did not expect it at all. Rushing through the center of the city and firing all his weapons, he managed to inflict great damage to the enemy until he was shot down. Damaged, but not burned down, he remained standing in the center of the city.
In the 1930s, a powerful system of defensive fortifications known as the “Stalin Line” was built along the entire western border of the USSR from Karelia to the Black Sea. The Minsk fortified area, which passed near the city, was one of the 23 parts of these fortifications. In 2005, a section of it was recreated 20 km northwest of Minsk. It is an open-air military history museum and is called the Stalin Line. The company section of the fortified area has been recreated and equipped; two machine-gun pillboxes, artillery half-caponiers, and a command and observation post have been restored. According to the pre-war drawings, the engineering equipment of the area was recreated. The exposition includes all types of trenches, trenches and anti—tank ditches, positions for rifle squads, dugouts for personnel shelter. There are regular reconstructions of the battles of the Great Patriotic War.