Honoring the glory of fellow countrymen heroes is important for patriotic education - Sherstnev

Perpetuating the glory of fellow countrymen heroes, whose memory lives on in their homeland and is passed down to descendants, is important for patriotic education, especially in times of historical revisionism. This opinion was expressed today by Vitebsk Oblast Governor Nikolai Sherstnev at the solemn ceremony of unveiling a memorial plaque in Vitebsk to the hero-submariner Samuil Bogorad.

"The unveiling of a memorial plaque in honor of our fellow countryman, a submariner, Captain 1st Rank, Hero of the Soviet Union Samuil Bogorad, is another step towards returning the names of Vitebsk's glorious sons and daughters," emphasized the Chairman of the Oblast Executive Committee. - 200,000 people live in Belarus who served in the USSR Navy in different years. It is gratifying that our region is also attractive to retired naval officers who join veteran public organizations, make a worthy contribution to strengthening the Union State, and conduct active work on patriotic education of youth."

Samuil (Semyon) Bogorad is a legend of the Soviet submarine fleet during the Great Patriotic War. A native of Vitebsk, Bogorad met the war as the assistant commander of the D-2 submarine of the Baltic Fleet. And from March 1944 until the end of the war, he commanded the Shch-310 submarine, which made three combat patrols, sinking and damaging 8 enemy vessels. Over the past four years, several more sailors – natives of the Vitebsk land – have received honors worthy of their exploits: Vice-Admirals Illarion Povalishin and Egor Tomko, Captain 3rd Rank Anatoly Ispenkov, and others. And all this thanks to the Belarusian-Russian military-patriotic project "Maritime Brotherhood - Indestructible!". According to the project's author, Arseniy Kritsky, Belarusians were at the origins of the creation

Navy. But now there is a fierce struggle for history, and each hero's name gains special significance.

"The naval glory of Belarusians should not rest solely on the shoulders of veterans. Let young cadets in Belarus also exist, because the best sailors are not those born on the coast, but those born here," believes Arseniy Kritsky. Today, Vitebsk hosts city-wide and district celebrations for Defender of the Fatherland Day: laying wreaths and flowers at memorial sites and burial places of liberator soldiers, concerts, performances, and a large cultural and sports open-air program on Victory Square in Vitebsk. In every small town and district center of the region, their own events and tributes to men are prepared on this day.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, BELTA.