Vitebsk celebrated the 125th anniversary of Minay Shmyrev and the 50th anniversary of the museum in his honor
Minay Shmyrev was born in the village of Punishche, Vitebsk region. He had a difficult fate, he went through three wars: World War I, the Civil War, and the Great Patriotic War. For his bravery shown on the Russian-German front, he received the highest soldier's award – three St. George's Crosses, becoming a full Cavalier of St. George. In 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, organized the first partisan detachment in the Vitebsk province, and achieved considerable success in the fight against banditry, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
When fascist invaders set foot on their native land, Minay Shmyrev formed a partisan detachment. The people's avengers instilled fear in the Germans: they attacked enemy garrisons and strongholds, destroyed warehouses, carried out sabotage on railways, and disrupted punitive operations against the civilian population. Together with the units of the Red Army, the partisans held the famous "Sura Gates" – a forty-kilometer gap in the German front line, through which civilians and recruits escaped, cattle were driven, grain was transported, and army sabotage and reconnaissance groups passed, and the partisans received weapons. The Germans called Minay Shmyrev "bandit number one," while his own people called him "bat'ka" (father). The fame of the partisan leader spread throughout Belarus. Losing hope of dealing with the people's avengers, the Hitlerites organized a punitive expedition, took hostage, and then shot four young children of the commander.
The Motherland highly appreciated the combat merits of the national hero; Minay Shmyrev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and he was awarded many orders and medals. After the war, Minay Filippovich worked in party positions and became the first honorary citizen of Vitebsk. Two years after his death, in 1966, a decision was made to establish the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Hero of the Soviet Union Minay Filippovich Shmyrev.
The permanent exhibition tells about the life and
activities of our renowned countryman, about the history of the partisan movement in the Vitebsk region. Next to the museum building, a memorial park has been created, where a sculptural bust of Minay Shmyrev (author - Zair Azgur), a model of "Rail War", artillery pieces are installed, and partisan dugouts are built.As part of the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Minay Shmyrev's birth, a round table "Personality in History, the Problem of Perception" was held at the museum, with the participation of representatives of museums, archives, public organizations of the region, staff and students of VSU named after P. Masherov. The postgraduate student of the historical faculty of VSU Anna Pasternak spoke about new acquisitions to the collections. In particular, this is a transcript of a conversation with Minay Shmyrev, made on September 6, 1942. The conversation was conducted by the Commission for the History of the Great Patriotic War, which operated from September 1941 to November 1945. The document makes it possible to establish new facts from the biography of the hero, for example, it allowed to clarify the birth dates of the partisan commander's children, and confirmed the fact that two brothers of Minay Shmyrev died in the Civil War. It contains information about the first combat actions of the detachment, its armament, and German punitive operations. A copy of the transcript on 17 pages was received from the archive of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2016.
– The Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union Minay Shmyrev, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, is a center for preserving historical memory. The younger generation must remember the price of peace and freedom, know about the people who contributed to the liberation of their native land, – emphasized the Deputy Chairman of the regional executive committee Vladimir Penin at a celebratory evening at the Vitebsk State Musical College named after I. Sollertinsky.
And the director of the museum, Irina Shishkova, who spoke to the audience, talked about the development of the institution. Recently, the number of visitors has increased to 19 thousand per year. Employees conduct not only excursions, but also various events, quests, and creative projects. "Partisan Christmas Tree" has become a tradition. This year, on the eve of the New Year holidays, the results of the "Letter to the Generation of Winners" campaign will be summarized,which the Vitebsk museum announced on October 1 of this year at the republican forum. The forest beauty will also be installed in a dugout, visitors will be able to imagine how partisans celebrated the holiday, and enjoy hot tea from a samovar.
Tatsiana Pasternak. Photos by Anton Stepanishchev. "Vitebskiye vesti".