BREST, 29 July (BelTA) - The Living Memory of Grateful Generations monument was inaugurated in Brest on 28 July. The ceremony was attended by First Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Natalya Petkevich, BelTA has learned.
Belarusian Paralympian and public figure Aleksei Talai put forwar an initiative to collect coins for the monuments to celebrate the generation of winners in Minsk, Brest and Moscow. The first of them was installed in Victory Park in Minsk in 2022. Brest took up the baton in the year of the 80th anniversary of liberation from Nazi invaders. The Living Memory of grateful generations monument was built on the grounds of the Kobrin fortification of Brest Fortress, next to the National Center for Patriotic Education of Youth, which is currently under construction.
Hundreds of thousands of families from Belarus and other places took part in the initiative by dropping their coins into special flasks, installed throughout the country. The monument consists of two parts. The triangle letter is a tribute to the past, while the bronze tree is the embodiment of the future. It is symbolic that the right to open the monument in Brest was given to three generations of one family: the veteran of the Great Patriotic War Aleksandr Grigoriev and his descendants.
“Aleksei Talai raised a huge wave of remembering those who died, who did not live to see today. My brothers in arms are no longer with me. I have no one to meet, to reminisce with. I miss them,” the veteran said.
The paralympian noted that the Belarusians showed unity and continuity, having collected so many coins for the monument.
“Thank you to everyone who came to inaugurates this iconic place in honor of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, our heroes, who defended our land and gave our people a chance to live on planet Earth. We, the modern generation, remember, honor and will pass this memory to our children and grandchildren, who will live here. We are facing unprecedented pressure from outside,” he said.
Aleksei Talai expressed confidence that the memory of the war heroes helps Belarusians cope with the difficulties. “I am proud and glad that so many people pitched in this national monument project, as many children and young people have donated their coins for the alloy of the Living Memory of Grateful Generations monument,” he said adding that the family of the head of state has also contributed to the monument.
