Here in Pruzhanskaya

Street on June 24, 1941

German tank divisions 17

and 18 entered the town

and occupied it.

Our tank T- 34 in the

Oginsky Canal, June

1941

The main town’s square –

Lenin Square during the

Great Patriotic War

There was a gallows-

tree in the square for

three years.

The building of the

gendarmerie

There was

gebitskomissariat

during the Great

Patriotic War

There was CD

during the Great

Patriotic War

Now there is a tank T – 34

with number 107 which

means the date of the

liberation of Slonim – July 10

in the central square of

Slonim.

Fascists killed a lot of people and burnt the whole

villages. Not far from the town there are places of

mass shooting down of the inhabitants of Slonim

and the nearest villages.

The Memorial to the

victims of fascism on

top of Petralivechskaya

Mount.

The monument to

the victims of

fascism on

Chepelevo fields.

Here fascists

killed and buried

about 10000 jews.

My grandfather Ivan Chertkov was born in 1931. His family was very big. He had three

brothers and two sisters. When the Great Patriotic War began his father and brother went

to struggle against the invaders. My granddad was only ten years old and he couldn’t join

the Army. He had to stay with his family.

On July 7, 1942 the village Bykhov, Mogilev region where he lived was occupied by

Germans. They drove all the inhabitants from their houses. My grandfather and his family

ran away to the forest. They lived in a small dugout. Dugouts were shelters fully recessed

into the earth, with a flat roof covered by ground, or dug into a hillside. They were called

zemlyankas (Russian Землянка). They were used as underground bunkers to provide

shelter and a hiding place from enemies. It was a very hard life. There wasn’t enough food

and they starved. It was very cold in the dugout.

On January 14, 1943 the village was liberated from the fascists and all the inhabitants

who stayed alive could return to their houses. My grandfather joined the Army and went

to the front. There were a lot of battles during the war but he reached Berlin. He was

seriously wounded in one of the battles. For his courage and heroism he was awarded with

the Order of Fame and the medal “For courage”. My granny keeps these awards as they are

priceless to them.

My granny was little when the war began. But those were terrible years for Belarusians. She told me

some episodes from that period of time she remembers.

When Germans occupied the territory of our country they ruined and destroyed a lot of villages and

towns, killed, burnt and hung a lot of Belarusians. A lot of people left their houses and joined

partisan detachments to fight against the invaders. One day the fascists burst into the village of

Klimovichy where granny and her family lived. They searched eall the houses and barns looking for

partisans. They suspected that the villagers baked bread and gave food to them. Many people

managed to escape into the forest but the others were seized by the fascists and led out to shooting.

Among them there was my great-grandfather – my granny’s dad Pyotr Yakovevich. The fascists

started shooting. The people fell down on the ground . My great-grandfather fell down too but he

pretended to be dead. He was lucky, the fascists were in a hurry and finished off those who were

moaning loudly. My great-grandfather laid under the body of his dead brother until it became dark

and went to th e forest at night. He remained alive. In 1944 the Germans passed through the

village of Vasilevichy where my granny lived. All th e villagers were afraid of them as they killed

the whole families. On that day my granny’s mother hid the children in the basement and went to

the shedto milk a cow. When she went out of the shed she saw several German soldiers in the yard.

She stood frightened to death but a bucket of milk saved her. Th esoldiers saw the milk and

shouted, “ Mleko! Mleko!” They took milk, turned around and drove away. My great-grandmother

took the children and left home. They stayed in the forest for a week.

The students of our school have been participating in the

Peace One Day project for several years and it's become a

tradition to celebrate Peace Day on September 21. This year we

have had Peace Week that started on September 21 and was

full of different events and activities. There was an art contest

for students to choose the best drawing for the School's

International Peace Quilt.

At noon the students of 4, 5 , 6 and 7 grades together with

teachers( total 210 people) went in our school yard and joined

their hands to be part of the International circle of peace. They

sent their best wishes to the world and prayed for peace all

over the world.

We also made peace doves with the help of origami, wrote

wishes to the world, drew posters and pictures. 4 and 6 -

graders participated in Peace Art Mile.

Sport plays an important role in preserving peace all over the

world. We organized a One Day One Goal football match with

school 9 and there were sport competitions in kids’ light

athletics between three teams of the students aged 9 - 11 .

We all wish for peace because peace is LIFE on our planet Earth. Everybody has the right to live. We want to see happy, smiling people, the sun shining in the blue sky, to listen to birds' singing, to enjoy the beauty of nature,... We wish for peace in the world,

peace in the family and peace in our hearts. WE are PEACE.Here is our acrostic poem about peace:

P - peaceful coexistence of all countries

E - equality between people of different nationalities and religies

A - attention to the needs of others, tolerance and mutual understanding

C - care and support

E - equal relations and harmony between man and nature

And what is peace for us? It's life!It is green grass, it's the blue sky.

It's clear rivers and deep seas,

It's the ground beneath your feet.

To peace we come, in peace we live,

Dream, quarrel, fall in love, believe,

And in the end beneath old trees

On grave it's written: Rest in peace.

But what the hell is human doing?

He wants to burn, to kill, to ruin.

In search of wealth and all world's

treasure

He kills for all alive its pleasure.

But he forgets about the main

That on the Earth exists the Heaven.

Where you can find immortal wealth:

It's yours, it's mine, it's planet's health!

It is the world with lots of fun,

No smoke, no blood, no cries, no gun.

It is what everybody needs:

Fresh air, life, for ages peace.

And the sun begins to shine a lot

And all the world it turns to gold.

Don't know why people look for more...

I want to say: Make love not war!

Zlata Verzhbitskaya

16 years old