Day of Memory and Grief in Smolensk region

75 years ago at 4 am the Great Patriotic War, which killed 27 million Soviet citizens, began. In memory of these tragic events all over the country the action "Candle of Memory 2016" is taking place.  Smolensk region traditionally participates in this action.

The action "Candle of Memory" will be held for the eighth time. For this time it has been joined not only by all the regions of Russia, but also almost by all the former Soviet republics, and this year the event was held in a number of countries from the anti-Hitler coalition.

One of the central sites for the action in Smolensk region was a memorial complex "Memory Field" near Vyazma. On the night of June 21-22, hundreds of people gathered there to pay tribute to those who died for the Homeland and the freedom of future generations.

"Memory Field" near Vyazma has become the central site of the action not by chance. It was the Vyazma boiler where in the autumn of 1941 the Red Army lost about 400 thousand people, more than 600 thousand soldiers and officers were taken prisoners.

At precisely 4:00 am signal rockets were launched into the sky. Then Bishop of Vyazma and Gagarin Sergei performed a service for the killed on the battlefield, for those who were tortured in occupation and concentration camps. Then, the participants of the action to the sound of the metronome honored memory of victims by a minute of silence, lit candles and laid flowers at the graves of heroes.

This year, on the initiative of our region the main topic of the All-Russian action "Candle of Memory" was the answer to the question from the song by Edward Kolmanovsky, lyrics by Yevgeny Yevtushenko "Do the Russians want a war?". It was this song that the Smolensk Russian Folk Orchestra named after V.P. Dubrovsky performed the first one at its concert-requiem. For the musicians the Vyazma "Field of Memory" has a special significance – in the autumn of 1941 almost the whole staff of the State Wind Orchestra of the USSR, over 100 people who had joined the ranks of the People's Militia, were killed there.

The participants of the action gathered in the Memorial Park of Heroes, remembered the name of each soldier buried at the fortress wall. Then, the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Roslavl Isidor served a doleful litany for those killed during the Great Patriotic War. At the end of the action the participants observed a minute of silence the memory of the fallen, laid wreaths and flowers at the graves of the Soviet soldiers.