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Belarusian capital Minsk during World War II
Photo: Photo12 / IMAGO
A mass grave from World War II containing the remains of an estimated 8,000 people has been discovered in a forest in Belarus.
This was announced by the Attorney General.
Experts found, for example, remains of bones, clothing, shoes and ammunition, which are now to be examined.
The grave is located near a military training area not far from the capital Minsk.
According to the public prosecutor's office, civilians and soldiers from the Minsk area were brought there between 1941 and 1944 and shot there.
They were buried in holes up to five meters deep.
"There were gunshots and screams from people in the neighboring villages," it said.
A large number of cartridge cases were later discovered near the graves.
38,000 people suspected in mass graves
The attorney general's office reckons there could be at least seven mass graves in the area containing the remains of 38,000 people.
Specialists from the Ministry of Defense were involved in the search.
80 years ago Hitler's Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
The communist country recorded the highest number of victims in Europe with 27 million deaths.
Around a quarter of the population died on the territory of today's Belarus alone.
Mass graves are repeatedly discovered on the territory of the former Soviet Union.
It was not until the end of August that the remains of thousands of possible victims of the Stalin era were discovered in Ukraine.
According to the authorities, the bones of 5,000 to 8,000 people were found in more than two dozen graves near Odessa in the south of the country.
Experts believe that these are the bones of people who were executed by the Soviet secret police NKVD between 1937 and 1939.
It was one of the largest mass graves discovered in Ukraine to date.
bam / dpa
