Press releases

BREST, 27 March (BelTA) – Delegations from 13 cities have gathered in Brest to take part in an international meeting of Memory Watch organizations, BelTA has learned.

The meeting marks the 45th anniversary of the Memory Watch at the Eternal Flame of Brest Fortress. Apart from the young residents of Brest, the meeting has brought together children from other Hero Cities and participants of the international peace movement Academy of Peace and Children’s Diplomacy. Delegations from Vitebsk, Mogilev, Minsk, and Russia’s Volgograd, Kerch, Moscow, Murmansk, Nelidovo, Novorossiysk, Saint Petersburg, Sevastopol, Smolensk and Tula arrived in Brest on 26 March to take part in the international meeting on 27 March.

The Brest Fortress Memory Watch was established in March 1972. Over 91,000 high school students have undergone patriotic training at the Memory Watch since then. “To guard the Eternal Flame is an honorable mission. In this way, the youth pay tribute to the memory of the soldiers killed in the Great Patriotic War. It is symbolic that the meeting has gathered representatives of the Memory Watch organizations of other Hero cities. People of different ethnic backgrounds fought for our independence shoulder to shoulder. Today it is very important to preserve this hard-won peace,” said Nikolai Krasovsky, Chairman of the Brest City Council of Deputes.

The meeting participants got small bags with soil from Brest Fortress. The Eternal Flame will witness an international memory watch on 27 March. “All members of my family are somehow connected with military service. For me, the Memory Watch is a continuation of the family tradition. I believe we should know the history of our city, our country and neighboring states. We are sisterly nations, and we should not let anything divide us,” said Yelena Stepanova, a school student from Sevastopol.

Alexandra Nebyshinets from Vitebsk said she was happy to visit Brest for the first time. “It is a great honor for me to be here. I wanted to visit Brest Fortress for a long time. We will pay tribute to the memory of those who died fighting for our future, for peace. The international meeting is a great opportunity to find new friends. I have already met three girls from Sevastopol. We have talked, compared the schools in Belarus and Russia,” Alexandra Nebyshinets said.

The international meeting of Memory Watch organizations will run in Brest till 29 March. The children will be offered tours of the city and Belovezhskaya Pushcha. They will also take part in the patriotic game The Banner of Victory. The school students from Belarus and Russia will meet with representatives of Brest City Hall. The heads of the delegations will be invited to attend a teachers’ conference.