Belarusians and foreigners travel hundreds of kilometers to be in Brest Fortress on 22 June
15:03, 23 June
Many Belarusians and foreigners traveled hundreds of kilometers to visit the Brest Hero Fortress memorial and attend the events dedicated to the Day of National Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Genocide of the Belarusian people, BelTA learned.
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Olga Gelezha came with friends from Volkovysk. “It was our plan to come and see how everything is happening in the Brest Fortress this night, to soak everything in. Everyone knows that the night of 22 June 1941 marked the start of the great tragedy for the Soviet people. We wanted to feel, to understand a little bit what was going on in those moments, the pain people were going through. We do not want this to happen again in our country. I am really overwhelmed by the atmosphere here,” Olga said.
According to the woman, she imagined that the fortress would be crowded this night, but did not expect that many visitors. “We planned this trip from the New Year,” Olga Gelezha added.
Larisa Kologriv said that her both grandfathers fought at the front. One of them died. “I wanted to honor the memory of the fallen heroes. I have this wish: world without wars,” she said. I am honored to be here with everyone, to share moments together, to honor the memory of the defenders.”
Aleksandr Lobanov came to Brest from Russia’s Kirov. “This trip has been planned since 2018. We are veterans of the border service from various cities of Russia. I am from Kirov. We have people from Kalmykia, Chuvashia, Cheboksary, Nizhny Novgorod. There's about 70 of us here. We drove many kilometers, we are glad that we came in such a memorable year,” Aleksandr said. He called the Brest Fortress a place of pilgrimage. I believe that every border guard is simply obliged to visit Brest, the city of immense heroic glory, and the Brest fortress itself. I remember my first impressions: I walked and tears came when I imagined what was happening here. It is a very emotional place,” Aleksandr Lobanov stressed.
On the Ceremonial Square at 2.00 in the morning began a commemorative concert "Four years of a long journey..." Dmitry Krutoi read out the address of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The musical and theatrical performance in the Brest Fortress featured Belarusian and Russian artists. The event will wrap up with a ceremony to lay flowers to the Eternal Fire to honor the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland. Then the Kobrin fortification of the Brest Fortress will host a military-historical re-enactment of key episodes of the defense of the citadel over the Bug River.
