NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 21 April (BelTA) - St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov and Minsk Mayor Vladimir Kukharev met with Leningrad siege survivors, now living in Minsk, Belarus, BelTA has learned.
The meeting was held in a very warm atmosphere over tea drinking and songs to the accordion.
“Hello, Leningrad residents! A low bow to you from the residents of the native city!” Alexander Beglov greeted the siege survivors.
He stressed that being in the brotherly Belarusian land, he could not but meet with them. The governor recalled his recent meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, during which they talked about the shared history, the tragedy of the Belarusian Khatyn and the besieged Leningrad.
Alexander Beglov thanked the Belarusian leader for the special attention to veterans and siege survivors. In turn, the Belarusian president, knowing about the governor's plans to meet with the siege survivors, asked to give his best wishes and greetings to the participants of the meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also addressed his special wishes to the siege survivors living in Belarus. “He said: “Please, invite them to Leningrad!” Alexander Beglov conveyed the words of the Russian leader.
Alexander Beglov stressed the importance for the current generation to know and remember the shared history, to continue youth exchanges on patriotic education. For example, not only Belarusians should know about the tragic years of Leningrad siege. Young Belarusians should also come to St. Petersburg and tell their peers about Khatyn and other memorable historical facts. “Now there are attempts to forget this history, to eradicate, to change our youth,” he said.
The governor thanked the siege survivors for their heroic labor deeds in the postwar years. “Thank you very much!” he said. Alexander Beglov invited them to come to St. Petersburg not only on memorable dates, but also for recuperation in health resorts.
The event was held at the Children and Youth Additional Education Center Evrika. A special exhibition was prepared for the distinguished guests. It included expositions of several schools of Frunzensky District of Minsk. The emphasis was placed on perpetuating the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and how the modern generation honors the memory of the victims of fascism and the genocide of the Belarusian people. The exhibition also featured exhibits about the partisan movement, liberation of Belarus and, of course, the Siege of Leningrad.
The school students and their teachers spoke about their work in school museums, patriotic education, participation in research and search activities. A student of one of the schools presented her search work connected to her family history - her great-grandmother was a siege survivor. The Story in a Suitcase project is the restoration of stories of families or concrete people using archive documents, old photos and some personal things, which all together can be put into a usual suitcase. There is also a project dedicated to the Siege of Leningrad, which tells about the life of the city during those difficult years, everyday routine of its residents and the heroism of its defenders, among whom were many children.
“Thank you very much for the memory!” Alexander Beglov thanked the organizers of the exhibition. He presented a book about the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery to the museum of Minsk secondary school No.7. The book contains photo-chronicle of the war time and the present day. Another gift was a certificate for the purchase of media equipment. The students of all the schools that presented their exhibition projects received baskets with sweet gifts from the governor.
