It is our sacred duty to preserve the historical truth, the memory of the Victory over Nazism, and to pass it on to future generations.

It is our sacred duty to preserve the historical truth, the memory of the Victory over Nazism, and to pass it on to future generations. This was stated today by Igor Lutsky, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, at a solemn rally dedicated to the opening of the "Victory Train" exhibition at the Minsk-Passazhirsky railway station, a BELTA correspondent reports.

"Victory Train" is a unique interactive project that allows you to feel the atmosphere of that tragic and, at the same time, heroic moment using modern technologies. More than 90,000 people in the Russian Federation have already visited this exhibition, and today the "Victory Train" continues its journey in the Republic of Belarus. The train will travel through all regions of our country and will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War in the hero-city of Brest Fortress, which was one of the first to take the blow of fascist aggression. It is very symbolic that recently this exhibition was supplemented by an exposition on the heroic defence of the Brest Fortress, which is considered worldwide as a model of unbending courage and military valour," noted Igor Lutsky.

According to him, projects like the "Victory Train" not only help to rethink the past but also strengthen unity. "The war left its mark on the history of almost every Belarusian family. We lost every third person, and we will never forget it. Today, it is our sacred duty to preserve the historical truth, the memory of the Victory over Nazism, and to pass it on to future generations. The truth is precisely that the peoples of the Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to the defeat of fascism and saved the world from the brown plague, no matter what the current revisionists of history, who are now raising their heads in all countries of the world, may say," emphasized the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.

"Belarus and Russia are facing continuous information wars and attacks. Our people, especially the youth, are being subjected to thoroughly false historical narratives, where the Soviet Union is blamed for unleashing World War II alongside Nazi Germany, where Soviet symbols are equated with Nazi ones, and people are forbidden to celebrate a holiday sacred to them under the banner of the Great Victory," he said. "They want us, the descendants of the victorious heroes, to apologise for our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who, at the cost of their own lives, saved the lives of all humanity. We have accepted this challenge; we will defend the truth, we will defend our right to remember the feat, our right to sovereign development today and in the future."

In our country, the project is being implemented by Belarusian Railway and Russian Railways OJSC during the Year of National Unity and is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War. It is carried out with the support of the Administration of the President of Belarus and the active assistance of the Republican Volunteer Centre.

The "Victory Train" will run on Belarusian Railway from June 11 to June 28 this year. As clarified by Belarusian Railway, from June 11 to June 13, the exhibition will be in Minsk; from June 14 to June 15, residents of Orsha will be able to visit it; from June 16 to June 17, it will be in Vitebsk; on June 18, the train will stop in Polotsk; from June 19 to June 20, the exhibition will be available for viewing in Grodno. In Brest, the "Victory Train" will be from June 21 to June 24; in Gomel, it will be possible to visit the museum from June 25 to June 26; and the exhibition will conclude in Mogilev on June 27-28, the day the city was liberated from the Nazi invaders.

The "Victory Train" is a large-scale historical and educational project initiated in Russia by the creative workshop "Nevsky Battalist" in collaboration with the media group "Krasny Kvadrat," with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia, Russian Railways OJSC, and the public organisation "Victory Volunteers" as part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the Year of Remembrance and Glory in Russia. The train embarked on its maiden voyage from Belorussky Railway Station in Moscow in October 2020. During its operation, the museum has been visited by approximately 92,500 people from 38 cities in Russia.

This project is a unique interactive exhibition based on the immersion effect, created using carriages of a mobile exhibition and lecture complex. The "Victory Train" consists of 12 carriages, nine of which are exhibition spaces. One of them is dedicated to the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress – participants of the heroic defence, soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, as well as women and children, family members of servicemen, who bore the brunt of the first German attack.

"The 'Victory Train' project is a one-of-a-kind exhibition comprising nine carriages, each dedicated to a specific period of the Great Patriotic War. A large team of people created this project. The project is immersive and unique in that visitors find themselves inside the train, with the opportunity to touch the exhibits and listen to an audio narrative. It showcases the life of the Soviet Union and its citizens, reflecting the war through the prism of the railway," said Margarita Popova, coordinator of the "Neva Battalion" team. "In the exhibition, visitors encounter numerous media screens, over 100 figures of heroes, carriage interiors, and unusual non-railway-related locations – all recreated in full scale."

The exhibition features three-dimensional panoramas: paintings, models, and multi-object displays within arm's reach. The route through the "Victory Train" is a transition from one episode to another. Pre-war years – the Great Patriotic War – Victory. Currently, museums worldwide do not possess such a large number of multi-figure sculptural compositions, the Belarusian Railway added.

"The exhibition is also unique in its multimedia accompaniment. Furthermore, it employs surround sound, theatrical lighting, mechanical special effects, presence sensors, holograms, virtual reality battle panoramas, historical reenactment filming, and 3D computer graphics with military equipment models. Custom music has been composed for each exhibition zone," the Belarusian Railway press centre noted.

The "Victory Train" project is a social initiative in both Russia and Belarus. The exhibition is open from 10:00 to 20:00. There is a break from 14:00 to 15:00. The exhibition is recommended for adults and children aged 12 and above. No more than 10 visitors can be in one carriage of the "Victory Train" at the same time; the audio guide listening time is 5 minutes, and the total excursion time is 45 minutes.

"Due to the limited train capacity and the current epidemiological situation, visits to the exhibition will be carried out only by organized groups of residents from the regions using invitation tickets distributed among organizations and educational institutions of Belarus by local executive authorities. The operation of the exhibition will be organized in accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Health for the prevention and control of the spread of viral infections. Visitors are required to observe the mask regime," the Belarusian Railway added.

Source: belta.by