Initiated by the presidents of the upper houses of the parliaments of Russia and Belarus, the project last year brought together 200 schoolchildren from Russia and Belarus, this year they were joined by children from Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
The “Memory Train” route will pass through 14 cities in Russia and Belarus. Children will visit the iconic places of Grodno, Zhlobin, Mogilev, Polotsk, Minsk, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Samara, Moscow, Tula and Volgograd. The launch will be given tonight, June 22, in Brest, from where the bloody Great Patriotic War began in 1941. And before that, the guys had a huge program full of meetings, events and impressions. On the evening of June 21, during the dialogue platform held in the regional executive committee, the Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Natalya Kochanova, wished a good trip to the schoolchildren. A little later, a solemn ceremony for the launch of the “Train of Memory” took place in the Brest Fortress, where the guys received a symbol of the project and laid flowers to the eternal flame. In the early morning of June 22, they took part in a meeting-requiem dedicated to the Day of National Commemoration of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Genocide of the Belarusian People. And then they saw a military historical reenactment about the beginning of the war and the heroic defense of the defenders of the legendary citadel on the Bug. On the same day, a fascinating excursion to Belovezhskaya Pushcha took place.
“Train of Memory” – a unique project dedicated to the heroism of the Soviet people during World War II
- Last summer I was in the Grodno regional “Youth” camp during the change of direction, where three guys who rode the “Memory Train” in 2022 rested with me, – a student recalls tenth-grader from Shchuchin, member of the Regional Youth Parliament, chairman of the commission for achieving sustainable development goals in the Republican Parliament of Children and Adolescents, and this year the participant of the current project Daria Barysh. They talked a lot about how great it was. Therefore, I couldn’t resist, so I wanted to go faster. From all points of our route, I especially looked forward to the military-historical reconstruction of the Brest Fortress “June 22. Brest Fortress”, which tells about the first day of the war … I also really want to see Russia because I’ve never been there. I’m sure Peter will impress you the most – there is a special atmosphere there.
Like the other participants of the project, Daria passed a serious competitive selection to become a train passenger, took part in the Republican contest “I am a patriot of my country”.
One of the passengers of the “Train of Memory” is a pupil of a rural school, Ilya Bovsun, from the agro-town of Kuritichi, Petrikovsky district:
- The theme of the Great Patriotic War is very close to me. The events of those years have taught the whole world so many lessons that forgetting them means ending the future. And now, when people not only forget, but also twist the story, you need to find out the truth from the most reliable sources.
Ilya expects new acquaintances, acquaintances and vivid impressions from the trip:
- I want to discover new places, their history and their modern development. It will be useful to compare how the memory of their heroes is honored in other colonies, what my peers know about the war.
“Memory Train” is a unique cultural and educational project dedicated to the heroism of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War. The project was first implemented in 2022 on the initiative of the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Natalia Kochanova and the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the IPA Council of the CIS Valentina Matvienko. Then 200 Belarusian and Russian schoolchildren, 100 from each country, became its participants. For 15 days, they visited 15 cities in two states. The “Train of Memory” passed along the Brest – Grodno – Vitebsk – Smolensk – Rzhev – Vyazma – Kubinka – Moscow – St. Petersburg – Veliky Novgorod – Pskov – Orsha – Mogilev – Gomel – Minsk route.
This year, 55 Belarusian schoolchildren and 89 Russian schoolchildren take part in the project
Arrived at the terminal station on July 3 – the independence day of Belarus. Schoolchildren got acquainted with the main events of the Great Patriotic War, with which the train route was connected, visited museums and monuments, took part in military reconstructions and met veterans.
At a meeting of the heads of parliaments of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union in Samarkand, Valentina Matvienko and Natalya Kochanova offered to include participants from Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the historical and patriotic project “Memory Train”, organized under the auspices of the federated state. The Chairman of the Federation Council expressed confidence that the project should develop so that by 2025, declared in the CIS as the Year of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, as well as the Year of peace and unity in the fight against Nazism, to organize a “Train of Memory”, made up of children from all Commonwealth countries.
This year, 55 Belarusian schoolchildren and 89 Russian schoolchildren were selected to participate in the project. In total, more than 200 children recovered during the trip. In Belarus, more than 11,300 tenth-graders from 2075 educational institutions competed to participate in the “Train of Memory” project. The contest included five main tests: a business card, a creative contest “I can”, a video contest “May Country” – the participant told about his small homeland, famous people living there, culture and sights of his region. In the essay contest “About this spring”, the guys recalled the events of the Great Patriotic War, their relatives who took part in it. And the participants in the project had to pass through three adequate stages (from school to region – the intellectual contest “Memory of Generations”). So there are no random passengers on this train.
the day before
At half past eleven in the evening of June 20, an unusual train departed from Belorussky station in Moscow for Brest – high school students from Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan became its passengers. Upon arrival in Brest, they met guys from Belarus – the same as them, participants in the “Train of Memory” project. And now everyone has taken a big trip through Belarus and Russia together.
And that evening, State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev, Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Dmitry Krutoy, Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vagharshak Harutyunyan came to the station to see the guys leave… and we’re all about emotions, we can still I don’t believe it, – with one voice, Russians Diana Khazipova (Novy Urengoy), Milena Timofeeva (Petrozavodsk) and Eskerkhan Aliev (Gudermes) have shared with us. Diana plans to become a teacher and already teaches high school history lessons. Therefore, the trip should not only meet new friends and new emotions, but also provide an opportunity to learn more about the history of Belarus. The two girls blog, they plan to talk about the trip on social networks. And Eskerkhan is sure that this is a great opportunity to tell children about the exploits of the Chechens during the war. Emilia Adamyan and Anna Aleksanyan from Armenia, as well as Tasnima Nurmukhamedzhanova and Veronika Grebennikova from Kyrgyzstan, have exactly the same emotions. The girls said that it was not easy to get into the project – there was a very strict selection. By the way, Dmitry Mezentsev and Dmitry Krutoy not only wished the participants of the project a good trip, but also personally observed how the guys got into the cars.
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