UN General Assembly
1985

The Soviet people paid an enormous price in defending the freedom, honor and independence of their country. Twenty million people perished in the flames of the war. Their memory is sacred. In the year of the fortieth anniversary of the great victory we also pay tribute to the post-war exploits of those who rebuilt the devastated national economy from ruins and ashes and increased the industrial potential of the Byelorussian SSR to its present level which is 35 times greater than before the war, despite the fact that one-fourth of its population died in the war and over one-half of its national wealth was destroyed.