Haj is a memorial complex in Baranavičy dedicated to the memory of three thousand Czechoslovak citizens (including thousands of Jews from the Theresienstadt ghetto) who were victims of Nazi terror during World War II.

The memorial “Uročyšča Haj” was built on the western outskirts of Baranavičy in 1972 (sculptor Moisei Altschuler, architects Mikalaj Milavidaŭ, Anatoĺ Mierenič, Adoĺf Makaraŭ). 

A central monument was erected on the spot where there was a machine gun, from which people were shooting in June 1942. These are two concrete slabs 13 and 14 meters high, connected by an arch. They resemble the fence posts of a concentration camp. A bronze bell is attached to them on top. Below there is a brass bas-relief depicting many hands raised and linked in protest, pain and despair. The complex includes two mass graves united by a concrete slab with an inscription-dedication, a symbolic “Threshold of Life and Death” – a concrete bar laid across the field road, as well as a “Shooting Wall” of three thousand stones. There is an inscription in Russian and Czech languages “To the blessed memory of the Czechoslovak brothers” with images of thorn branches on the memorial plaque.

Publication date: 18.02.2021.

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