How is the Vitebsk region celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory? Interview with Gennady Egorov, Head of the Main Department of Ideological Work and Youth Affairs of the Regional Executive Committee
– Time is relentless, and the ranks of Great Patriotic War veterans are thinning each year. During these festive days, they are the main heroes of all celebrations. What is being done to ensure that no former front-line soldier, partisan, or those who fought the enemy and forged victory in the rear, remains forgotten?
– There are 635 war participants living in the Vitebsk region, and our main task is to give personal attention to each of them. We bow low and pay deep tribute to those who heroically traversed the long and thorny combat paths and then revived their native land from the ashes. There are no words that can fully convey our gratitude to the veterans for their immortal feat in the most brutal war humanity has ever known. On the eve of the Victory holiday, all of them received congratulations from the President of the Republic of Belarus, as well as anniversary medals and gifts. Preserving the memory of the Fatherland's defenders is our sacred duty. Work in this direction is carried out not only for holidays and significant dates but constantly. The State Program for Perpetuating the Memory of those Killed in the Defense of the Fatherland and Preserving the Memory of War Victims for 2015-2020, which is being implemented in Belarus with the active participation of local executive bodies, the deputy corps, and the public, greatly contributes to this. In the region, the list of all memorial sites related to the history of the Great Patriotic War has been clarified and compiled.
As of today, there are 1482 military burial sites in the Vitebsk region, where the remains of 412,107 soldiers rest.
All monuments, obelisks, and graves are assigned to organizations, enterprises, educational institutions, and cultural institutions by executive committee decisions. These entities are responsible for maintaining their assigned memorial sites. In the regions, volunteer workdays are held, during which work collectives improve the territory adjacent to memorial sites and direct the earned funds towards repair work. Information signs-banners are being installed in all districts of the region indicating the location of military burials, including those located away from populated areas.
– Is it planned to open new memorial sites as part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War?
– Yes. The patriotic project "Heroes of the Soviet Union – Our Countrymen" is being implemented in the Vitebsk region. Within its framework, several memorial objects will be opened on May 8: the Alley of Heroes of the Soviet Union in Gorodok, memorial plaques to Heroes of the Soviet Union Egor Vasilevsky and Vladimir Kurilenko in the agro-town of Babinichi, Vitebsk district, a memorial sign at the site of the village of Sharagi, Gluboksky district, where about 150 civilians were burned by the Nazis. And on May 9, the opening after reconstruction with the participation of the head of the region, Nikolai Sherstnev, and the chairman of the regional Council of Deputies, Vladimir Terentyev, of the largest military burial site "Rylionki" in the Dubrovensky district is planned.
– How actively is youth involved in patriotic campaigns?
– One could say she is at the forefront of all events. One example is participation in the month of military-patriotic work dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. Young people landscaped military burial sites, went on hikes to memorable places of military glory, met with war and labor veterans, internationalist soldiers, and visited museums. As part of the republican campaign "Belarus Remembers," students are studying their family trees and restoring photographs of fallen heroes, relatives, and countrymen. Educational institutions are competing to name themselves after Heroes of the Soviet Union, Knights of the Order of Glory, and local participants in combat operations, partisans, and underground fighters. Vitebsk and Polotsk Cadet Schools hold a special place in fostering patriotism among the younger generation. The team of Vitebsk cadets "Shield of the Fatherland" has won the Republican Cadet Intellectual and Creative Olympiad "Patriot" five times in a row.
Participants of the regional pioneer organization traditionally make a significant contribution to the treasury of good deeds. Thus, young patriots joined the campaign "Thank you to the soldiers of Victory for letting us not know war," as well as the "I Remember" challenge, which became a continuation of the republican project "We Will Never Forget. Grandchildren About the War" and the regional project "Touch the Feat with Your Heart." Children created photo works and videos about participants and eyewitnesses of the Great Patriotic War.
– What is the contribution of public organizations to the collective memory of the Fatherland's defenders?
– In addition to traditional congratulations to veterans and tidying up military graves, a number of new campaigns in terms of content and format are being implemented this year. In particular, the regional committee of the NGO "BRSM" has launched the project "75 Songs About the War". Anyone can record a video with a song on a military theme. The authors of the best works will be awarded special prizes and diplomas. Another project is taking place within the framework of the international leadership school – a series of live broadcasts on "Instagram", during which stories about the life of a specific region during the war years and post-war recovery will be told. The goal of this campaign is to draw the attention of young people to the heroic pages of the history of their native region.
The regional branch of the NGO "Belarusian Peace Fund" has appealed to the students of "Peace Schools" of Vitebsk region, as well as educational institutions applying for this high title, with a proposal to write letters to veterans. More than 600 defenders of the Fatherland will receive postcards from the Peace Fund by mail, as well as letters with words of gratitude from young peacemakers.
A large number of patriotic and charitable events were held by the regional organization of the ROO "Belaya Rus". On the eve of the memorable date, apple orchards were planted in Vitebsk in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory.
By the efforts of the regional organization of the public association "Belarusian Union of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan", a monument has been erected in Orsha in memory of the Jewish children destroyed by the Nazis.
Other public organizations are also actively participating in preserving the memory of the heroism of the military generation: the Belarusian Public Association of Veterans, the Union of Officers, the Belarusian Red Cross, the Women's Union, and others.
– Gennady Mikhailovich, what does Victory Day mean to you personally?
– May 9th has been and remains the brightest holiday for my family, as for many thousands of Belarusian families. Victory was won at too high a price. The war affected our family just as harshly and mercilessly. My maternal grandmother sent five sons to the front, and not a single one of them returned. My father went through the entire war in a Guards mortar division with BM-13 units, or more simply, "Katyushas." He was wounded and awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, the medals "For Military Merit," "For the Victory over Germany," "For the Capture of Königsberg," and many others. My understanding of war was not formed from feature films, but from his laconic, rare recollections, which my father, like many soldiers of that war, shared very infrequently. It has been 23 years since he passed away, but I still share every Victory Day with my father.