This project is a civic initiative of a number of individuals and businesses. It was not built as a part of the official memorial events. Our objective is to thank those who won the Great Patriotic War. We believe that our project will help attract attention to the surviving veterans and remind our readers that we still can thank many of them.
Today, the Internet allows us to tell what this war represented for our grandfathers. By using a multimedia map of the war, we attempted to combine historic facts with archival materials and personal accounts shared with us in recent times, without any bias or judgment. We strived not only to present a coherent picture of the events, but also to instigate a dialogue between generations — remember, the personal accounts included in this project are but a tiny part of what the veterans can tell us.
We believe that gratitude should not be impersonal, but should be delivered personally to each veteran — this is why the list of names of veterans still here to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Victory is an important part of this project. We want to remind that these people are living among us, in our cities — they may need our help and may want to be heard.
The first version of the project appeared in 2005 — back then, we managed to collect a list of over a million veterans surviving to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Victory. Many years have passed since then, and now, sadly, fewer veterans are surviving. But we do not feel we have the right to remove anybody’s names from this site.
