Alexander Kosinets met with veterans of the Great Patriotic War
It is symbolic that the meeting of the head of the region with veterans took place in the restaurant "Victoria". At one time, it was Alexander Ksinets who proposed to name this establishment, which is adjacent to Victory Square. Former front-line soldiers, partisans, underground fighters, home front workers, and prisoners of Nazi concentration camps were brought to "Victoria" by car and met with honors. After all, respect for veterans, the continuation of their military and labor traditions is a manifestation of loyalty to the behests of the older generation: to preserve peace and dedicate their strength to the good of the Motherland.
Few were able to participate in the meeting due to their health, so it was even more joyful to see the gray-haired veterans who were not broken by the trials that befell them or by the years. Among them is Alexey Fedorovich Leshkov, who celebrated his 90th birthday this year. He went to the front as a boy, was a mortarman, a machine gunner, and repeatedly went on reconnaissance. He liberated his native Belarus and reached Koenigsberg. After the war, he graduated from a military school and served in the Air Force. And today, the veteran's officer's bearing is visible from afar. Alexey Fedorovich's eldest son also became a military man. The veteran says that a healthy lifestyle helps him to remain in service.
Among the invited guests are many women, on whose fragile shoulders fell all the hardships of the war. It is difficult to count how many wounded Olga Grigoryevna Zaitseva carried from the battlefield. She went to the front as a nurse straight from school. She participated in the liberation of Belarus and Poland, was awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War, I degree, as well as other orders and medals. She met her future husband at the front, and they lived together for over 50 years.
Maria Kirillovna Sovina was a scout in Leonov's partisan brigade in Sennensky district.
– When the district was liberated, I went to teach at school. Everything was destroyed, there was no telephone connection or radio, but somehow the village council received news that Germany had surrendered, someone ran to the school. There was so much joy! It is difficult to convey the feelings that everyone experienced – both adults and children, – recalls the former scout.
Addressing the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Kosinets emphasized: the Victory was achieved at a high price. Every third resident of the region gave their life for it. The fascists burned down more than 200 villages along with their inhabitants. Before the war, the Vitebsk region had a population of 1 million 800 thousand people; today, it is just over 1 million 200 thousand. We have not even reached the pre-war population size. The gathered people honored the memory of the fallen with a minute of silence.
There are about 2.5 thousand obelisks in the Vitebsk region, and over 9 billion rubles have been allocated for their restoration this year alone. However, the names of all the heroes who gave their lives for the sake of Victory have not yet been established. This is now being done on a professional level.
As Alexander Kosinets noted, about 3 thousand veterans and 6.5 thousand concentration camp prisoners live in the region. The authorities are doing everything necessary to ensure they live longer, as their experience is invaluable. 43 billion rubles have been allocated to assist veterans. Many have improved their housing conditions, undergone examinations in medical institutions, and rehabilitation in sanatoriums and hospitals.
– This year we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders. For everything you have done for peace on earth, we bow low to you, – the head of the region addressed the veterans and proposed the first toast to the Great Victory.
Tatsiana Pasternak, "Vitebskiye Vesti"