On March 22, 82 years ago to the day, the German SS and Ukrainian nationalists destroyed the Belarussian village of Khatyn along with all of its inhabitants. They herded 149 villagers, including 75 children, into a wooden shed and set it ablaze, shooting anyone who tried to escape.
Over the course of the Great Patriotic War, the fascists destroyed or damaged more than 5,000 villages. 627 of these villages were totally destroyed and 186 of them were never rebuilt; not even one person had been left alive in these communities to return and rebuild.