Press releases

27 Jan 2020

Star Expedition campaign kicks off in Minsk

An archive photo

MINSK, 27 January (BelTA) – A rally marking the launch of the 55th edition of the Star Expedition international campaign took place in Minsk on 27 January, BelTA has learned.

The Start Expedition is timed to the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. It will be running on 28-31 January and will bring together around 300 participants, including students and teachers of Maksim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University (BSPU), L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Kazakhstan), Moscow Pedagogical State University, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University, and Nizami Tashkent State Pedagogical University (Uzbekistan).

Participants of the campaign will visit Borisov District, Vileika District, Pukhovichi District, Slutsk District, Soligorsk District, Pinsk District, Orsha District, Smorgon District, and Osipovichi District. They will meet with veterans of the Great Patriotic War, provide them help and assistance, stage rallies, lay flowers at mass graves of soldiers and civilians who died during the war, give concerts in schools, meet with school students, organize master classes and sports competitions.

Students and teachers are also set to join the campaign To the Glory of the Shared Victory and help collect soil from mass graves which will then be placed into the crypt of the All Saints Church in Minsk.

The official opening event of the campaign featured Belarus Education Minister Igor Karpenko. “By visiting sites of military and labor glory the youth show that they respect the traditions of older generations. The Star Expedition has become an international event and brings together students from partner universities of the BSPU. Some of them bring photos of their family members buried in Belarus,” he said.

“I took part in the Star Expedition campaign for the first time in 1985. All in all, the essence of the campaign has remained unchanged. Of course, the youth contributes something new, but communication, concerts, meetings with veterans, and tidying up mass graves of fallen soldiers remain an inalienable part of the campaign,” Igor Karpenko added.

Students divided into nine groups will visit nine districts of Belarus, BSPU Rector Aleksandr Zhuk noted. Foreign students will visit the sites where their family members are buried. “Students from foreign universities say that this is an unforgettable experience. Around 300 participants will pass on the historical truth about the Great Patriotic War to younger generations, so that the lessons of the war will not be forgotten,” Aleksandr Zhuk said.

BSPU student Pavel Spurgyash said that he hopes to learn more about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and to tell schools students about his alma mater. “I am taking part in the campaign for the first time. I would like to thank war veterans for everything they did for us and to tell school children about advantages of the BSPU,” he said.

The delegation of Moscow Pedagogical State University is set to visit Pinsk District. This Russian university is represented by five people, including Roman Usov who is also a first-time participant of the campaign. “I want to commemorate the memory of Russian soldiers who died liberating Belarus and defending our countries from the Nazi invaders,” Roman Usov said.

The Star Expedition patriotic campaign was launched by the BSPU in 1966.