The Transformation of Maly Trascjanec: Interactive Map

The site of Maly Trascjanec underwent drastic transformation processes in many respects over the course of the last century: It changed in terms of its use and its reception in the culture of remembrance, but numerous topographical transformations can also be discerned.

Using georeferenced aerial and satellite images, an interactive map can be used to show how Maly Trascjanec has changed from 1944 to the present day. Unfortunately, the preceding period cannot be viewed due to the lack of aerial photographs; here the sources on the pages "Maly Trascjanec between 1941 and 1944" must speak.

Key sites of transformation are considered in more detail below.

Tip for handling the map: The bordered areas should not be clicked. Transformations are best seen in these areas when the cursor is not in them. Possible errors in the display of the interactive map depend on the Internet browser used and individual settings / installed add-ons.

The former site of the SD camp

Gate of Remembrance

The first aerial photograph of the former camp was taken in July 1944. Some visible infrastructure has survived to this day, including the "Ulitsa Yel'nitskaya" street. Shortly after the photo was taken, the area of the former SD camp was converted back into a collective farm.¹ Some roads in the central camp area were rerouted and a larger house was built in the lower area of the site. Until the early 2000s, the former camp site hardly changed. The basic infrastructure of the site was expanded and some economic work was still carried out in the area.² It was not until 2002 that the concept for a memorial site at Maly Trascjanec was decided by the Belarusian government.³ In 2014 - more than a decade after the decision - the implementation of the project began. In the middle of that year, the foundation for the "Gate of Remembrance" was laid, which was opened on 22 June 2015.⁴ In 2019, symbolic barrack outlines were laid on the site.

Blahaǔščyna forest clearing

Bird's-eye view of the Blahaŭščyna Memorial

Probably until the withdrawal of the last German troops from Maly Trascjanec, but at least until autumn 1943, thousands of Jewish people were murdered and buried in the Blahaǔščyna clearing south of the former camp. They were exhumed and burned as part of the "Action 1005". On the aerial photograph from 1944, the rough outlines of the forest clearing can still be seen, which grew larger and larger due to the need for firewood. Outlines of the presumably 34 mass graves are not recognisable. For decades, the shooting and extermination site was forgotten and the clearing slowly began to grow over again. The land next to the clearing was handed over to the Soviet Ministry of Defence; an artillery training area was built on it. In 1958, a landfill was established in the immediate vicinity of the shooting site.⁵ Between 1972 and 1975, a connecting path was cut between two country roads that ran through the middle of the shooting site. In 2017, the clearing was almost completely overgrown when work began on the Blahaǔščyna Memorial Cemetery.⁶ Following the sketch of the Extraordinary State Commission, the newly grown trees were felled and the surface of the site was dug up. Symbolic shooting trenches were cast from concrete to visualise the scale of the killings. Also in 2017, work began on the "Path of Death" by architect Leonid Levin. In 2018, the site was inaugurated.

Šaškoǔka

Memorial plaque at the Šaškoǔka forest

In autumn 1943, a temporary crematorium was set up in the Šaškoǔka forest in order to leave fewer traces of people being murdered. It was operated until the summer of 1944, when the German troops were pushed back by the Red Army. The forest bordered the former camp area and changed only slightly between 1944 and until today. Between 1964 and 1972, some traffic routes were cut through the forest, which were mainly shortcuts to the village to the south. In 1966, a memorial stone was laid at the site of the former crematorium.⁷ As the third central site of the memorial complex at Maly Trascjanec, work on a memorial site at Šaškoǔka was to begin in 2019.⁸ It has not been started to date.

The area surrounding the extermination site

Obelisk in Vjaliki Trascjanec

Between 1944 and the present day, transformations have also taken place in the vicinity of the historical Maly Trascjanec extermination site. Probably the most relevant change is the increasing urbanization of the locality. In the 1960s, work began on the Šabany residential area to the west of the former camp site,⁹ previously this site was used for agriculture. The villages of Vjaliki Trascjanec, Sosny and Jelnitsa were also structurally expanded. In 1963, a memorial to the victims of the Maly Trascjanec camp was erected in the neighbouring village of Vjaliki Trascjanec - historically, however, there is no connection between the two villages. The consequence was that the memory of the crimes against humanity in Maly Trascjanec during National Socialism shifted geographically.