More than 30 former blockade survivors will take part in a solemn meeting in Vitebsk
More than 30 former Leningrad blockade survivors will take part in a ceremonial meeting in Vitebsk on the occasion of the anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad, as reported to a BELTA correspondent by Galina Frantseva, Chairperson of the Vitebsk City Organization of the Belarusian Public Association of Veterans.
A ceremonial meeting will be held today at the regional children and youth center, where former blockade survivors and children of war will be able to communicate and tell the younger generation about their experiences: how they survived in conditions of hunger and cold, constant shelling, and how Operation Spark was carried out to break the blockade. A fragment of a documentary film will also be shown. As Galina Frantseva emphasized, it is important that children hear personal stories from the blockade survivors themselves, which testify to how terrible that time was, and truly appreciate the benefits they have now. The children, in turn, will perform for the older generation with concert numbers.
Currently, 106 Leningrad blockade survivors live in the Vitebsk region, 46 of whom are in Vitebsk. It has been proposed to create a permanent exhibition in the regional center dedicated to the feat of the people of Leningrad. Tatiana Khramtsova, the daughter of a blockade survivor, decided to realize this long-standing idea. She has already collected many memories and family relics of that era, organizing a small ethnographic museum at home. The Vitebsk City Organization of Internationalist Soldiers "Brotherhood" of the Public Association "Belarusian Union of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan" offered to help the enthusiast, and is ready to provide premises for the exhibition. The organizers have now announced a collection of materials among blockade survivors and their relatives: photographs, household items, etc.
Ekaterina Knyazeva