Heroes have names. How is the memory of those who died defending the Fatherland perpetuated in the Vitebsk region?
Search operations to identify unrecorded military burials and burials of war victims, and to establish data on the deceased, have been ongoing for decades, but today they hold particular significance.
– We must adopt the experience of preserving memory by previous generations and build this work considering new formats and tasks, – emphasized Dmitry Demidov, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, opening the regional seminar on perpetuating the memory of those who died defending the Fatherland and preserving the memory of war victims. – I am convinced that the main burden here lies with local authorities, which act as coordinators in resolving issues of perpetuation. It is our sacred duty to pass this relay of memory to subsequent generations.
Marina Novitskaya, Head of the Main Department of Ideological Work and Youth Affairs of the Regional Executive Committee, spoke about the large-scale tasks of the State Program "Perpetuating the Memory of Those Who Died Defending the Fatherland" for 2021–2025. These include accounting for and maintaining military burials and burials of war victims in proper condition, organizing and conducting search operations, and providing free access to information about those who died defending the Fatherland and war victims, and their burial places.
Currently, there are 1637 military burials registered in the Vitebsk region, of which 154 have been registered since the program's implementation. However, there is still much work to be done, as about three hundred thousand buried defenders are listed as "unknown." Furthermore, active searches for unrecorded burials of civilians are underway within the framework of a criminal case investigation into the genocide of the population of Belarus during the war and post-war periods.
Deputy Commander of the 52nd Separate Specialized Search Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, Major Alexander Kremenevsky, presented a detailed algorithm for interaction with local executive and administrative bodies and public organizations during the organization and conduct of field search operations. The Director of the Vitebsk Regional Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union M.F. Shmyrev, Irina Shishkova, identified problems and ways to solve them in perpetuating the memory of those who died in the defense of the Fatherland and victims of wars, drawing attention to the filling and maintenance of the automated database in the context of cities and districts "Book of Memory. Vitebsk Region". Their experience in this area was shared by Irina Tarasova, chief specialist of the department of ideological work and youth affairs of the Vitebsk District Executive Committee, and Vasily Shatkov, head of the gas supply and gas consumption accounting department of UP "Vitebskoblgaz", head of the search team, member of the PO ROO "Belaya Rus" of UP "Vitebskoblgaz". The presentation by Larisa Brueva, Chairperson of the Council for Interaction of Search Teams of the Vitebsk Region "Poshuk", was met with great interest.
– The names of only half of the buried defenders of the Fatherland are inscribed on the memorial plaques of our monuments. Almost as many still need to be identified, - said Larisa Naumovna. – We need to speed up our work, including clarifying the lists included in the "Book of Memory" for cities and districts.