MINSK, 13 March (BelTA) – The Museum of the Brest Fortress Defense will host an international conference “The role of monuments, museums and archives in preserving the memory of World War II and the Great Patriotic War, modern approaches to objects and their museumification in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory” on 19-20 March, Academic Secretary of the Brest Hero Fortress Memorial Elena Kharichkova told BelTA.
More than 40 historians and museums and archives workers of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine will participate in the event. Attending the event will also be representatives of the Russian Central Armed Forces Museum and the Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum, the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery and the Diorama Museum “The Battle of Kursk. Belgorod Direction". Employees of the Suvorov War History Museum of Kobrin and the Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Center will share their experience.
Scholars of the Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University devoted their research to modern Ukrainian historiography of the Great Patriotic War. Their colleagues from two Brest universities suggest discussing the issue of mythologizing the history of World War II and interethnic relations in the occupied territory of Western Belarus. Head of the regional branch of the Russian search movement in the Chechen Republic Isa Sardalov will speak about the fate of the military generation.
Deputy Director of the Brest Hero Fortress Memorial Larisa Bibik will make a report "Brest fortress: Challenges of the Time". Plans are in place to issue a collection of materials after the conference. "The Museum of the Brest Fortress Defense annually holds international conferences and chooses a topic of interest every time. This time the topic will be dedicated to the anniversary of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The museum staff has been conducting research for more than half a century. We have identified many previously unknown names of the defenders of the fortress, and perpetuated their memory," Elena Kharichkova said.
According to the employees of the memorial complex, three defenders of the Brest fortress now live in the territory of the former Soviet Union: former members of the musicians' platoon Peter Kotelnikov (Moscow), Vladimir Kazmin (Shakhty, Rostov Oblast, Russia), and Rishat Ismagilov (Ufa, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia).
