Press releases

BREST, 11 March (BelTA) - Schoolchildren of Belarus and Russia will see a new documentary about the Brest Hero Fortress which will be released in 2016, BelTA learned from Larisa Bibik, the deputy director for science of the Brest Hero Fortress memorial complex.

The film crew has already visited Brest. The 50-minute film with the working title The Citadel of Memory is to be released by the end of this year. Copies of the film will be donated to museums and schools in cities and towns of Belarus and Russia, primarily Brest, Minsk, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Viewers will learn about the history, the present of the memorial and its future. The film will feature interviews with staff of the museums of the Brest Fortress memorial, with Konstantin Smirnov, the son of writer Sergei Smirnov, the first head of the Museum of Defense Arkady Krupennikov, and with Piotr Kotelnikov, the youngest participant of the defense of the citadel, a student of the legendary musical platoon of the 44th infantry regiment.

“We must preserve what the time and history gave us. Today there are new publications and sources that attempt to debunk everything we hold dear, to ruin the memory of the Great Patriotic War. When important concepts are substituted for secondary ones, we have a mess. Adults can understand this. However, school children and students need help to sort everything out, and make the right conclusion,” Larisa Bibik said.

The organizer of the documentary project is the regional public organization for patriotic education The Spirit of the Elbe (Moscow).

In June 2016 the Brest Fortress will mark 55 years since the first big meeting of the citadel defenders. September will mark the 45th anniversary of the founding of the memorial complex. The Museum of the Defense will celebrate its 60th birthday in November. A number of events will be held to mark these dates.