MINSK, 28 January (BelTA) - The exhibition “Unity of the Invincible People”, dedicated to the anniversary of the complete lifting of the Leningrad siege, was presented at the House Museum of the 1st Congress of the RSDLP, a branch of the National Historical Museum of Belarus, BelTA has learned.
The exhibition is centered on the personal belongings of Leningrad residents who endured the siege: postcards, photographs, letters and writing instruments, ashtrays, clocks, and books. The display features items from the private collection of historian Vladimir Likhodedov and also pieces from the National Historical Museum of Belarus collections.
Aleksandr Khramoy, Director of the National Historical Museum of Belarus, noted that around 300 items are on display. “The most important thing is to emphasize the significance of certain events. We celebrate the people who actively contributed to the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, wherever they were, including Leningrad. The exhibition highlights the individuality of each siege survivor, who preserved these memories for future generations,” Aleksandr Khramoy noted.
The exhibition also presents letters written during that time. “We do not know whether the recipients received their letters or how the lives of those who wrote them unfolded. This is a major research task for the future. Naturally, the number of people directly connected to these events declines each year. Nevertheless, studying each letter is a very complex but necessary task for the museum staff, because we through letters we find the threads of people’s destinies. It is very important even if one person discovers the story of their family through such exhibitions,” Aleksandr Khramoy emphasized.
Historian Vladimir Likhodedov drew attention to some of the exhibition’s most remarkable items: the personal belongings and books of physician Ilya Bogorat and a unique letter dated two days before the outbreak of war. A 20 year old young man from Leningrad writes to a girl in Gomel. It is a heartfelt letter, written in a time when no one knew the war was about to begin. The young man expected her to buy tickets and travel to him on 26 June, and he would meet her the following day. The fate of the letter’s authors remains unknown, yet the letter itself has been preserved. According to the historian, it reflects the life and connection between Belarus and Russia, as “we have never divided each other.”
Aleksandr Khramoy added that over the next month the museum will host a series of events together with the society of Leningrad siege survivors. The museum will act as a dialogue platform, enabling people to reconnect after so many years, while ensuring that the younger generation remembers the feats of their ancestors and feels a duty to carry this memory forward.
Photos by Tatyana Matusevich/BelTA
Follow us on:
