Press releases

22 Apr 2019

Monument to female partisans of France presented in Belarusian Embassy in Moscow

Photo courtesy of the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow

MOSCOW, 22 April (BelTA) – The monument Rodina [Motherland], which will be installed in the French city of Thil ahead of the anniversary of France’s liberation from Nazi invaders, was presented in the business and cultural center of the Belarusian Embassy in Russia, BelTA learned from the press service of the diplomatic mission.

“This is a project to perpetuate the memory of a unique, the only ever fully female partisan unit Rodina which consisted of 37 women from the Soviet Union and from European countries who had escaped from the concentration camp Herouville in France. A third of them were Belarusians. The female partisan unit led by Belarusian Nadezhda Lisovets and Rosalia Fridzon joined the forces of the European resistance Free France as an independent combat group,” Senior Counselor of the Embassy, Head of the Business and Cultural Center Vasily Chernik said.

Vasily Chernik noted that the presentation of the monument Rodina at the Embassy in Moscow in the year of the 75th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from the Nazi invaders and its subsequent installation in France will help strengthen friendly international relations, preserve the historical truth about the joint fight against fascism and participation of our compatriots in the French partisan units called as Maquis and their feats in the liberation of Europe.

“By agreement with the Thil authorities the bronze monument will be opened ahead of the anniversary of France’s liberation. We hope that it will happen with the participation of the Belarusian and Russian diplomatic missions in the country. A monument in the form of a three-meter female figure with a carbine in her hands will be installed on the site of the former concentration camp Herouville from which the women escaped,” the author of the monument, People's Artist of Russia, sculptor Vladimir Surovtsev said at the presentation ceremony. “Today, when the truth about the Great Victory is subjected to revision and distortion we need to build new bridges while preserving the previous ones to bring people closer,” he noted.

The binary project Rodina includes the projects to make the monument in France on behalf of Russia and Belarus and also to shoot a documentary by Mikhail Matrosov, a graduate of Nikita Mikhalkov's Film Academy. The documentary will tell about the search for the remains of soldiers of the Great Victory, their burial, and setting up memorials of military glory through the prism of Vladimir Surovtsev’s art. The monuments made by the sculptor have been installed in 16 countries around the world. His father participated in the liberation of Belarus, was awarded the Order of Glory for crossing the Zapadny Bug River near Brest,” the embassy said.