DIVOSHIN – Connecting Memory

In the summer or autumn of 1942, at least 80 Roma were murdered on the outskirts of the village of Divoshyn. The group of Roma had previously been expelled from the Belarussian village of Kozly by the village elder.

As part of the international project »Protecting Memory«, a »Forest of Remembrance« was planted in 2019 in the field where the murders were allegedly committed. Eighty trees are symbolic of each of the victims and are intended to protect the place from agricultural use. Today, the place stands as a memorial for tolerance and respect for national and ethnic minorities and against the centuries-long discrimination and exclusion of the Roma. Visitors are asked to behave in a dignified manner.
The research for the memorial site and publication is based on sources from archives, scientific literature and private collections.

Both the project and the historical research, which resulted in this publication, have been funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.