On 22 June, a rally dedicated to the Day of Sorrow and Remembrance was held in the park of the main building of VSU. This day, the employees and students of the university honoured the memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War which began 82 years ago.
The participants of the rally gathered at a memorial sign to the employees and students of Voronezh State University who died during the war. Representatives of VSU gave speeches emphasising the importance of the feat of our ancestors and lay flowers. The meeting was held by Oleg Grishayev, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Social Development.
Vladimir Listengarten, VSU rector’s councillor, addressed the audience with a speech on behalf of witnesses of the tragic day in June 1941. Vladimir Listengarten said that this date divided the lives of his fellow nationals into the time “before the war” and “the war”.
“We mourn all those who died during the Great Patriotic War. On the first day of the war, the following words were spoken: “Our cause is rightful, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours” and today we remember these words with pride”, said Vladimir Listengarten.
Ludmila Vladimirova, the chair of the Trade Union Committee of VSU, noted that two significant memorable dates of the Second World War are very close to each other: last month, on the Victory Day, VSU honoured the memory of the war heroes. Ludmila Vladimirova emphasised how devastating the war was and how invaluable and important the feat of the citizens of the Soviet Union was. The chair of the Trade Union Committee recalled the words from the poem “Requiem (Eternal Glory to the Heroes)” by Robert Rozhdestvensky:
“Remember them all by name,
by the woe recall them that was theirs...
Needful of this –
not the dead!
This must be –
for the living!”
