Press releases

The festival is dedicated to the battles on the Eastern Front in 1914-1918 and the beginning of the First World War. The Niemcewicz Family Homestead built at the end of the 18th century was used as the headquarters of the commander of the German Eastern Front Prince Leopold of Bavaria for two years. The truce was signed there on 15 December 1917, and two days later the homestead hosted the first meeting on the peace negotiations. The peace treaty was signed at the White Palace of the Brest Fortress on 3 March 1918.

The festival will open with the international conference marking the centenary of the First World War. Partaking in the conference will be historians, museum workers, and journalists from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The program for 13 December features the main events of the festival, including the reenactment of fragments of the winter battles on the Eastern Front in 1915-1917. The audience will see refugee exodus, gas attacks, rearguard and positional actions of the Imperial Russian Army, the Austro-Hungarian Army, and the German Army. The museum will also showcase the army uniforms and equipment of the countries that were involved in the First World War.

The third international festival Skoki 2014 has been organized by the history museum Niemcewicz Family Homestead, the Polesye Agrarian and Ecological Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the group of military history reenactors Rubezh (frontier), and the Brest Oblast Office of the Belarusian Voluntary Association for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments. The partners of the festival are the Hermitage Hotel and the Selection and Hybrid Center Zapadnyi (western).