Khatyn (, ; , ) was a village of 26 houses and 157 inhabitants in Belarus, in Lahoysk Raion, Minsk Region, 50 km away from Minsk. On 22 March 1943, almost the entire population of the village was massacred by the Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 in retaliation for an attack on German troops by Soviet partisans. The battalion was composed of primarily Ukrainian nationalist Nazi collaborators and assisted by the Dirlewanger Waffen-SS special battalion. Background The massacre was not an unusual incident in Belarus during World War II. At least 5,295 Belarusian settlements were burned and destroyed by the Nazis, and often all their inhabitants were killed (some amounting to as many as 1,500 victims) as a punishment for collaboration with partisans. In the Vitebsk region, 243 villages were burned down twice, 83 villages three times, and 22 villages were burned down four or more times. In the Minsk region, 92 villages were burned down twice, 40 villages three times, nine villages four times, and six villages five or more times. Altogether, over 2,000,000 people were killed in Belarus during the three years of Nazi occupation, almost a quarter of the region's population. On 22 March 1943, a German convoy was attacked by Soviet partisans near Koziri village, 6 km away from Khatyn, resulting in the deaths of four police officers of Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118. Among the dead was Hauptmann Hans Woellke, the battalion's commanding officer. Massacre Troops from the Dirlewanger Brigade, a unit mostly composed of criminals recruited for Nazi security warfare tasks, entered the village and drove the inhabitants from their houses and into a shed, which was then covered with straw and set on fire. The trapped people managed to break down the front doors, but in trying to escape, were killed by machine gun fire. Around 149 people, including 75 children under 16 years of age, were killed due to burning, shooting or smoke inhalation. The village was then looted and burned to the ground. Survivors Eight inhabitants of the village survived, of whom six witnessed the massacre – five children and an adult. Twelve-year-old Anton Iosifovich Baranovsky (1930–1969) was left for dead with wounds in both legs. His injuries were treated by partisans. Five months after the opening of the Memorial, Baranovsky died in unclear circumstances. The only adult survivor of the massacre, 56-year-old village smith Yuzif Kaminsky (1887–1973), recovered consciousness with wounds and burns after