The tour "They defended our city"

The terrible years of the Great Patriotic War are leaving us, but the memory of the war remains.

"Eternal memory to the heroes"... they are not just words. They are great words. They can be found on monuments and memorials to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War both in the largest city and the most remote area of the country.

The Great Patriotic War affected almost all corners of our country. People have built memorials, monuments and obelisks to the heroes of the war  in memory of this. Our city is no exception. We offer you to take part in a virtual tour of our city and get acquainted with some of the heroes.

We begin our excursion at school № 10 g Lida.

In front of you there is a memorial plaque installed on the school building. Maria Kostromina worked at this school and Sasha Klimko studied at it, they are active participants of the Komsomol underground of the city during the Great Patriotic War.

Maria Kostromina.

Maria Kostromina was born in the town Lev Tolstoy, Lipetsk region. In 1940 she moved to Lida. From December 1941 to May 1943 she was a member of the underground and Komsomol group at the railway station in Lida. She distributed leaflets, bulletins, participated in the preparation of sabotage at the power plant. Since May 1943. she was a fighter of the K.E. Voroshilov brigade. She took part in many combat operations against Hitlerites. She died in a battle near the village of Zhemoslavl, Ivievsky district. She was awarded with the Order of the Great Patriotic War of the first degree. The street of our city is named after her.

Klimko Alexander.

During the Patriotic War he worked in a locomotive depot. He was the leader of the Underground. In our city a street is named after him. A memorial plaque was placed on the house where he had lived.

By the summer of 1943, the city of Lida had become a major railway centre. Hitler's leaders began to relocate here its front rear, started the construction of defensive structures. Large supply bases were concentrated here.

The Lida anti-fascist underground was founded in the first months of the occupation. The core was the group that worked at the railway station of Lida: Mikhail Ignatov, Alexander Klimko, Masha Kostromina, Anatoly Kachan, Motya Nazanikh, Leonid Kholevinsky. They organized a group to fight against the Nazi invaders. It was led by M. N. Ignatov and A. A. Klimko.

Unfortunately, the Lida underground fighters failed to survive the joy of liberation. In May 1944, as a result of betrayal, 16 members of the Lida underground were arrested by the Abvergroup-307 and shot three kilometers north of the city.  In May 1966, according to the project of architect Sosnovsky, a monument was erected on the place of execution of the Lidian underground fighters on July 3, 1944.

In honor of the liberators and partisans of the Lida zone, a monument was founded on May 9, 1965 on Sovetskaya Street. The names of those who showed courage and heroism in the liberation of Lida are immortalized here. They are the cavalrymen of Lieutenant General Oslikovsky, 307th Airborne Division, as well as the Kirov guerrilla brigade, the guerrillas of the "Forward" brigade and others. On the southern side of the block, on a marble plaque there is the Order of Honor, on the end there is the Order of Victory, on the north there is the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

In memory of the dead the laying of the Kurgan of Immortality began in Lida on May 9, 1966 and lasted until July 8, 1966. The Kurgan of Immortality was buried in memory of the soldiers and partisans who died in July 1944 during the liberation of Lida and the region from the Nazi invaders, and the civilians of Lida and the region who died during the Great Patriotic War. The Kurgan was opened on July 8, 1966.  At first, a five-pointed star was made in the place of the Kurgan. The first secretary of the city committee G.F.Fomichev, the representative of Moscow K.N.Galitsky, the honourable citizen of our city N.S.Chepurkin, the former secretary of the Lida underground CPB E.D.Gapeev in the basis of Kurgan laid a capsule with the message to descendants. It was decided to open the box on May 9, 1995, when the city would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. On 9 May 1995, the box was opened. Some of the objects that had been kept there were transferred to the Lida Museum. A new testament to the descendants was placed in the box, which should be opened on May 9, 2045.

One year later, in 1967, the citizens of Lida gathered again at the Kurgan. People have prepared to meet the urn with ashes of the Unknown soldier. His remains were found near a small Belarusian village of Chekhovtsy. On the same day, 49 unidentified soldiers were escorted, buried in a mass grave near the village of Gudy. Thus, at the foot of Kurgan a new monument appeared - the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The monument is made in the form of a tombstone.  In the same 1967, a park was planted around the Kurgan of Immortality. In 1973, according to the design of a group of Minsk architects under the leadership of J.N. Trakhtenberg, the Lida mound was supplemented with pylons.