70th anniversary of the Great Victory

MOSCOW, 28 April (BelTA) – The exposition of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War is on show in Moscow. The exposition is part of the international exhibition project, We Were Together in the Fight Against the Nazism, that took its start at the Poklonnaya Gora on 28 April to mark the 70^th anniversary of the Great Victory, BelTA has learned.

In his opening speech Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev called the exhibition unique as it tells about the contribution of all the peoples of the Soviet Union in the defeat of the Nazis and the role of every republic in the achievement of the common victory. “We did not divide the victory in 1945 and we do not do it today. It is our common victory and our common celebrations,” the Russian PM said.

Dmitry Medvedev was among the first to see the Belarusian exposition. He was accompanied by Director of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War Nikolai Skobelev and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus to Russia Igor Petrishenko.

The exposition brought from Minsk is symbolic as it reflects the contribution of the Belarusian people in gaining the Great Victory and their fight against the Nazis, Nikolai Skobelev told BelTA. “It is a big expo that features the whole timeline of the war,” he said. The exposition narrates about defensive battles, the life of people during the occupation period, Belarus’ liberation and a large-scale partisan movement in the country.

According to Nikolai Skobelev, it is for the first time that such a big number of exhibits has been taken outside the country since the museum moved to a new building. Among the exhibits on display in Moscow are personal things, diaries, documents of partisan and soldiers, war-time arms, including improvised weapons, partisan party banners, hand-written magazines, leaflets and newspapers. There are also things found on the sites of the concentration camps, paintings of well-known Belarusian artists about war and many more.

The exhibition project, We Were Together in the Fight Against the Nazism, should become one of the main cultural events in the CIS to mark the anniversary of the Victory. Its major goal is to preserve the spiritual and moral unity of the nations. The project also includes expositions of the Culture Ministries and the national museums of Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The contribution to the victory by other Soviet republics is demonstrated by the Russian Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War. The exhibition opened as part of the Moscow international forum, Great Victory Achieved in Unity.