Youth Marathon Relay «75» in Vitebsk
Vitebsk region welcomed the relay of the youth marathon "75", organized as part of the republican patriotic project "Flowers of the Great Victory".
The first stop in the Vitebsk region was in Begoml, at the site of a military burial. BRSM activists honored the memory of Soviet soldiers and partisans who fell in the battles for the liberation of the Dokshitsy district with a minute of silence.
In the regional center, on Beshenkovichi Highway, the youth marathon was met by a column of retro cars from the cultural and historical club "Avtovityaz" and motorcyclists.
A solemn rally was held on Victory Square in honor of the liberator soldiers, partisans, and underground fighters of Vitebsk region, with the participation of Great Patriotic War veterans and representatives of authorities.
– The visual result of the patriotic campaign will be the banner "Belarus Remembers!" and the album "Belarus Remembers. Native Faces of Victory," – said Vyacheslav Khrol, First Secretary of the Vitebsk Regional Committee of BRSM. – Its participants collected information about the natives of our region – who they were, on which fronts they fought, about their feats. In the Vitebsk region, the marathon united over a thousand people.
According to Vladimir Terentyev, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, the youth marathon is important for representatives of different generations; it continues the extensive systematic work that the Youth Union and the Federation of Trade Unions conduct with veterans and youth.
During the rally, representatives of the Vitebsk region handed over their part of the banner. It features 130 names of Heroes of the Soviet Union and full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory. Among them are Minay Shmyrev, Petr Masherov, Zinaida Tusnolobova-Marchenko, and others.
The marathon participants highly appreciated the mobile exhibition "Liberation of Belarus", an exhibition of the mobile museum of the Great Patriotic War. Thematic areas also did not go unnoticed: young people had their faces painted with patriotic symbols, took photos with household items from the war period, and tried their hand at target shooting. Everyone could come with a portrait of their relative-liberator and tell about him, scan the photo in a unique field laboratory – thereby contributing to the creation of the album "Belarus Remembers. The Native Faces of Victory".
For example, Kristina Prishchepova, a student of Vitebsk Secondary School No. 12, brought a portrait of her great-grandfather, Vasily Petrov, a native of Gorodok district, who went to the front in 1941 and reached Berlin. He was a rifleman of the 631st Rifle Regiment of the 159th Vitebsk Rifle Division, awarded the Order of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov, and participated in many severe battles. He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, medals "For the Capture of Berlin", "For the Defense of Leningrad", and "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945". In peacetime, he worked as a forester, teaching to protect nature.
As part of an open dialogue at the Center for Modern Art, the album "Belarus Remembers. Native Names" was presented. And the youth had the opportunity to communicate with war veterans, representatives of public associations and authorities, and discuss issues of perpetuating the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
After Vitebsk, the "75" marathon moved to Mogilev.