Tatarstan “Wikipedia”: memorial complex “Motherland”

This term has other meanings, see Motherland.

Main article: Monuments of Naberezhnye Chelny

"Motherland"

is a memorial complex located in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny and is one of its main attractions. Opened on May 9, 1975 for the 30th anniversary of the Victory[1].

History of creation

The idea of ​​​​creating a monument dedicated to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War in the young city under construction arose in the early 1970s and was immediately supported by the Komsomol and approved by the city party committee. The author of the monument was the young monumental sculptor Ildar Khanov[2]. Work on the construction of the monument began without waiting for a decision from higher authorities - at the end of winter 1975. The city leadership and the party hoped that a small sculpture would be erected: a woman-mother or a soldier with a gun. However, the sculptor’s plans were to create a monument 40 meters high. But due to the lack of technology capable of raising the sculpture to such a height, the author had to abandon this idea[3]. According to experts, the construction of such a structure required at least 2-2.5 years, however, “Motherland” was erected in the shortest possible time - in 2 months 17 days[4].

— Every day, 5-7 thousand people worked with me at the same time. People were sent from factories, several battalions of railway troops, international brigades worked: from Chechnya, Belarus, soldiers from Turkmenistan. The construction was an initiative of the Komsomol, everything was done on an emotional impulse, they worked in three shifts[3].

— From the memoirs of Ildar Khanov.

May 9, 1975 - specially for the day of the grand opening of the memorial, a torch was delivered, lit from the eternal flame on Mamayev Kurgan, in Volgograd, from which in turn the eternal flame was lit in Naberezhnye Chelny.

The construction and opening of the monument entailed the improvement of the entire nearby area. Within six months, the nearby cemetery was put in order, tram tracks were laid, new houses were built, and the square itself in front of the monument[3].

Rising from the ashes

What is the meaning of this monument?

The sculptor of the memorial complex was Ildar Khanov, who in his creation turned to the image of the immortal Phoenix bird. According to ancient Greek myths, this bird died by burning itself in fire, and then was reborn from the ashes. So the monument “Motherland” is a mighty Phoenix bird with the face of a woman, under whose wings are her sons. By the way, the prototype of this woman was the Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR Gulsabira Khakimova.

The memorial complex was built in the shortest possible time - in 2 months and 17 days, work was carried out almost around the clock, without weekends or holidays. The complex consists of the Motherland monument with a pedestal and retaining walls, Post No. 1 at the Eternal Flame. The names of fallen soldiers from the city of Naberezhnye Chelny and the Chelny region during the Great Patriotic War are carved on the Wall of Memory. On the horizontal volume of the wall there is a five-pointed star, from the mouth of which tongues of flame burst out. The complex ends with a small slope with an inscription in Russian and Tatar: “Let us remember everyone by name” - “Batyrlar iseme ulemsez.”

Another interesting story is connected with the “fire” theme. Before the city authorities decided to finance the construction of the “Motherland” memorial by decision of the Naberezhnye Chelny city committee of the CPSU, the pioneers of the city pioneer headquarters “Fakel” tried to raise the necessary money by organizing the delivery of waste paper and scrap metal. We collected a lot - 2000 Soviet rubles.

After the cancellation of this operation, called “Obelisk,” the schoolchildren came up with a new initiative: to organize competitions for the right to become a member of the first Guard of Honor at the Eternal Flame. According to various sources, 20-25 people were selected: the best of the best, activists of pioneer squads and Komsomol organizations of city schools. They had special uniforms made for them and were given machine guns - wooden dummies. On May 9, 1975, a student of school No. 16, Lera Karimova (according to other sources, Lena Kudryavtseva), as the first guide, led the children to the Eternal Flame.

In the first years, the watch at Post No. 1 was carried out only on significant dates. On April 30, 1984, on the eve of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Great Victory, a detachment from school No. 15 began a permanent shift.

In 2005 and 2013-2015, the memorial was reconstructed: the wall of memory was expanded and supplemented with the names of fallen soldiers and officers in 1941-45, as well as in Chechnya and Afghanistan (67 people). Military equipment installed: M-30-1 howitzer,

armored personnel carrier BTR-70 and infantry fighting vehicle BMP-1. Tribunes for war and labor veterans with an area of ​​400 square meters were built. m.

Criticism

Since the opening of the monument, it has been repeatedly criticized both by city residents and by senior management, considering that it was not erected in the best traditions of Soviet sculpture, and that the author is not a sculptor, but a student who just graduated from college and came from nowhere. An interdepartmental commission from Moscow, which was present at the opening of the monument in 1975, decided to blow it up and send the author to prison. However, due to the strength of the reinforced concrete structure and the deep 20-meter foundation, attempts to destroy the monument were unsuccessful. The situation changed when articles with photographs of the monument and positive reviews began to appear in many foreign publications, many of which believed that this was the best monument dedicated to the war. It was decided to leave the monument[3].

The whole truth about the secret room in the Motherland monument

Unfortunately, the author of the project, sculptor Ildar Khanov, died five years ago. Therefore, Chelninskiye Izvestia conducted its own investigation.

— Is it true that there is a secret room in the monument where Khanov’s cot still stands?

“The void inside the tail appeared after the installation of giant blanks delivered from the factory,” says Biktimir Muryasov, responsible for the construction of the monument, who served as first deputy of the city executive committee in 1971-1975. – I saw this niche with my own eyes, it was the size of a room of 8-10 square meters. Not only Khanov, but also a group of builders could stay there. To be honest, it was difficult to keep track of whether Ildar spent the night there: he oversaw all the work that was carried out day and night. He slept little and had his own trailer at the construction site.

According to Biktimir Muryasov, when the time came, this void was completely filled not with concrete (otherwise there would have been an already heavy load on the foundation), but with huge wooden barrels, boxes and crates.

Ildar Khanov (second from right) and Biktimir Muryasov (second from left)

But there is another version. Arriving in our city, in one of his interviews Ildar Khanov said:

“In Moscow they learned that the monument was erected in violation of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee, not in the best traditions of Soviet sculpture, and the author only managed to graduate from college. An interdepartmental commission from Moscow came to the opening. They decided to blow up the monument and send the author to prison. The dispatch came to the regional committee, to the Ministry of Culture. They warned me: “Ildar, hide, the police should take you away.” I climbed onto the tail of the monument (when the concrete was poured, a cavity formed there, there was a whole room inside - I put a cot there). The chauffeur guys lifted me up on a lift, and I lived like Gavroche for a month and a half. I did yoga and fasted. At night he sometimes went down and collected nettles in the cemetery.”

— Is it true that the face of “Motherland” was sculpted from a shuttle?

— The prototype of the main figure was Gulsabira Khakimova, who in the 70s worked as deputy chairman of the city executive committee. She did not kick out the artist Khanov, who first appeared in her office... barefoot.

“When I first saw the sculpture, still at the stage of its creation, I didn’t like it,” recalls Gulsabira Makhmutovna. – I looked into the huge room allocated for the construction of the complex after Ildar Khanov’s invitation. He says: “Look, how do you like her face?” I was surprised: “Why did you make a woman with such a huge bust? She must have a beautiful face." And he answered me: “This is the most beautiful face.” So the face of the Motherland remained the way the artist intended it, but he actually reduced the bust.

Gulsabira Khakimova learned that she had become a prototype only many years later, when she was already working as the director of an art gallery and in 1993 she organized a personal exhibition of the artist.

“Then he admitted that this was my image.” Once we went to the monument together, and I saw that the face of the monument had some resemblance to mine,” the shuttlewoman recalls.

— Is it true that a bottle of champagne is hidden at the top of the monument?

“Indeed, there is a bottle of champagne there,” confirmed the artist Bulat Salyakhov, who, after getting a job at Kamgesenergostroy after the army, worked at the construction site from the first to the last day. “Ildar Khanov brought it, and on the eve of the opening of the monument, on May 8, we covered the bottle with a bucket on a hill and poured concrete on top.

Bulat Salyakhov (right) and his friends hid a bottle of champagne on the monument to the photo of Aidar Salyakhov.

— Is it true that taking pictures at the monument was prohibited?

“We were immediately warned that this was a strategic object,” explained Bulat Salyakhov. “But my brother smuggled in a camera and took several historical photographs. I am proud that I took part in the construction of the monument, which I really like, despite critical statements. I believe that this is a monument not only to victorious soldiers, but also to all the pioneers of KAMAZ. To this day I remember Ildar Khanov - talented and very modest. Only from the height of the monument, which was like a five-story building, did we watch how the big bosses “danced” around it. It's a shame that he wasn't even on the podium on the day of the celebration - they simply forgot about him!

— Is it true that Khanov was not paid for his work?

“Ildar Khanov never asked for anything for himself and, as he himself said, he did not work for money,” says Biktimir Muryasov. – I ate 15 grams and was full all day. The main thing for him was that no one should bother him. Where did the strength come from? In general, working at such a fast pace caused many different problems, including with the preparation of documents for the supply of building materials and the payment of wages to workers, of whom there were a lot of people involved.

— Is it true that Khanov disappeared and they were looking for him at the airport?

“There was a time when his disappearance really scared us,” shares Biktimir Gizatullovich. – Ildar showed miracles of efficiency, and 10-minute breaks replaced his night’s sleep. As he himself admitted, yoga classes helped him withstand these loads. But one day even this did not help - Khanov disappeared. Someone started a rumor that he wanted to hide and walked towards the airport. They sent people to Begishevo. The panic continued until they accidentally found him in a ravine near the concrete factory - exhausted, smeared with clay and plaster, immersed in deep sleep. A few minutes later he was on his feet and, having climbed to the very top of the sculpture on the scaffolding, he began to sculpt again.

— Is it true that they wanted to blow up the monument?

“It’s all a joke,” smiles Biktimir Muryasov. “Yes, many people didn’t like the monument.” Although, when the city leadership first saw the model of Ildar Khanov, no one said a word.

In general, it would not have been possible to explode. Firstly, during the construction, Japanese metal structures were used, which were used to cover the Nizhnekamsk hydroelectric power station, and tens of tons of high-quality concrete. Secondly, the monument did not stand in an open field, but surrounded by multi-story residential buildings.

Gulsabira Khakimova has slightly different information on this matter. She said that the Motherland monument was saved by the French writer and journalist Andre Remacle, who came to Chelny to write a book about KAMAZ.

“He showed us several foreign magazines he had taken with him with photographs and articles about the monument, which said that this was the best monument embodying the Victory. The magazines told management: “What do you want to blow up? The whole world applauds him!” They left it like that,” says Gulsabira Makhmutovna.

The builders worked in four shifts - without holidays or weekends. Photo by Aidar Salyakhov.

Interesting Facts

• The opening of the monument took place on May 9, 1975 - on the 30th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

• The author of the project is sculptor Ildar Khanov, and this is his first work in Chelny.

• The central object of the memorial is a large sculpture stylized as a Phoenix bird, with bas-relief images of heroes of the Great Patriotic War placed in the form of wings.

• The monument was supposed to soar above the city like a bird, to a height of 40 meters, but the city did not have equipment capable of raising the sculpture to such a height.

• The basis of the structure, the gypsum shell, was made in the workshop of the ZhBI-210 plant and then cut into tiers - there were 15 tiers, 780 parts. When everything was brought to the main site, the street from the cemetery fence to the tram lines was filled with these forms.

• The monument was built in the shortest possible time - in 2 months and 17 days, work was carried out almost around the clock: without weekends and holidays.

• A strict taboo was introduced for the workers: the monument is a sacred matter, especially since there is a cemetery nearby, so no foul language.

Photo by Salih Fatkullin

Reconstruction

Due to the significant deterioration of the memorial complex over its almost 40-year history, in 2013 the administration of Naberezhnye Chelny decided to reconstruct it at the expense of charitable funds from city entrepreneurs, as a result of which by May 9, 2014, additional memorial slabs appeared on the site of the memorial complex. walls with the names of heroes who died after the Great Patriotic War, a large screen, as well as military equipment in the form of two combat vehicles and an artillery cannon[5][6]. The total cost of reconstruction was 11 million rubles[7].

Notes

1. [moi.nabchelny.ru/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=detail&id=353&Itemid=8 Photo gallery “My Chelny”: Memorial complex “Motherland”]. www.moi.nabchelny.ru. Retrieved January 6, 2014. [www.webcitation.org/6FizqxS3j Archived from the original on April 8, 2013].
2. Lyudmila Pakhomova.
   [elabuga.com/hall/_hanov_fenomen.html The phenomenon of Ildar Khanov]. www.elabuga.com (August 16, 2011). Retrieved January 6, 2014. [www.webcitation.org/6FizriSGZ Archived from the original on April 8, 2013].
3. ↑ 1 2 3 4 Olga Arminen.
   [www.chelnyltd.ru/obshchestvo/chelovechishche Humanity]. Chelny LTD (May 10, 2011). Retrieved January 6, 2014. [www.webcitation.org/6FizuKCmH Archived from the original on April 8, 2013].
4. Elmira Yakovleva.
   [v-chelny.ru/news/luchshie-pamyatniki-i-skulpturi-goroda/ The best monuments and sculptures of the city]. Evening Chelny (June 23, 2004). Retrieved January 6, 2014. [www.webcitation.org/6FizsZIN3 Archived from the original on April 8, 2013].
5. [www.chelny-izvest.ru/city/23507.html Reconstruction of the Motherland complex in Chelny will continue until February.]. Chelny News (October 28, 2013). Retrieved January 6, 2014.
6. [chelny-biz.ru/rubrics/12/248.html “Motherland” is calling!]. www.chelny-biz.ru (September 16, 2013). Retrieved January 6, 2014.
7. [v-chelny.ru/online/5-millionov-za-rodinu-mat/ 5 million for “Motherland”]. Evening Chelny (September 18, 2013). Retrieved January 6, 2014.

An excerpt characterizing the Motherland (Naberezhnye Chelny)

The old count went home; Natasha and Petya promised to come right away. The hunt went on, as it was still early. In the middle of the day, the hounds were released into a ravine overgrown with young, dense forest. Nikolai, standing in the stubble, saw all his hunters. Opposite from Nikolai there were green fields and there stood his hunter, alone in a hole behind a prominent hazel bush. They had just brought in the hounds when Nikolai heard the rare rutting of a dog he knew, Volthorne; other dogs joined him, then falling silent, then starting to chase again. A minute later, a voice was heard from the island calling for a fox, and the whole flock, falling down, drove along the screwdriver, towards the greenery, away from Nikolai. He saw horse-dwellers in red hats galloping along the edges of an overgrown ravine, he even saw dogs, and every second he expected a fox to appear on the other side, in the greenery. The hunter standing in the hole moved and released the dogs, and Nikolai saw a red, low, strange fox, which, fluffing its pipe, hurriedly rushed through the greenery. The dogs began to sing to her. As they approached, the fox began to wag in circles between them, making these circles more and more often and circling its fluffy pipe (tail) around itself; and then someone’s white dog flew in, followed by a black one, and everything got mixed up, and the dogs became a star, with their butts apart, slightly hesitating. Two hunters galloped up to the dogs: one in a red hat, the other, a stranger, in a green caftan. "What it is? thought Nikolai. Where did this hunter come from? This is not my uncle’s.” The hunters fought off the fox and stood on foot for a long time, without rushing. Near them on chumburs stood horses with their saddles and dogs lay. The hunters waved their hands and did something with the fox. From there the sound of a horn was heard - the agreed signal of a fight. “It’s the Ilaginsky hunter who is rebelling with our Ivan,” said the eager Nikolai. Nikolai sent the groom to call his sister and Petya to him and walked at a walk to the place where the riders were collecting the hounds. Several hunters galloped to the scene of the fight. Nikolai got off his horse and stopped next to the hounds with Natasha and Petya riding up, waiting for information about how the matter would end. A fighting hunter with a fox in torokas rode out from behind the edge of the forest and approached the young master. He took off his hat from afar and tried to speak respectfully; but he was pale, out of breath, and his face was angry. One of his eyes was black, but he probably didn’t know it. -What did you have there? – Nikolai asked. - Of course, he will poison from under our hounds! And my mousey bitch caught it. Go and sue! Enough for the fox! I'll give him a ride as a fox. Here she is, in Toroki. Do you want this?...” said the hunter, pointing to the dagger and probably imagining that he was still talking to his enemy. Nikolai, without talking to the hunter, asked his sister and Petya to wait for him and went to the place where this hostile Ilaginskaya hunt was. The victorious hunter rode into the crowd of hunters and there, surrounded by sympathetic curious people, told his exploit. The fact was that Ilagin, with whom the Rostovs were in a quarrel and trial, was hunting in places that, according to custom, belonged to the Rostovs, and now, as if on purpose, he ordered to drive up to the island where the Rostovs were hunting, and allowed him to poison his hunter from under other people’s hounds. Nikolai never saw Ilagin, but as always, in his judgments and feelings, not knowing the middle, according to rumors about the violence and willfulness of this landowner, he hated him with all his soul and considered him his worst enemy. He now rode towards him, embittered and agitated, tightly clutching the arapnik in his hand, in full readiness for the most decisive and dangerous actions against his enemy. As soon as he left the ledge of the forest, he saw a fat gentleman in a beaver cap on a beautiful black horse, accompanied by two stirrups, moving towards him. Instead of an enemy, Nikolai found in Ilagin a personable, courteous gentleman, who especially wanted to get to know the young count. Having approached Rostov, Ilagin lifted his beaver cap and said that he was very sorry for what happened; that he orders to punish the hunter who allowed himself to be poisoned by other people's dogs, asks the count to be acquainted and offers him his places for hunting. Natasha, afraid that her brother would do something terrible, rode not far behind him in excitement. Seeing that the enemies were bowing in a friendly manner, she drove up to them. Ilagin raised his beaver cap even higher in front of Natasha and, smiling pleasantly, said that the Countess represented Diana both by her passion for hunting and by her beauty, about which he had heard a lot. Ilagin, in order to make amends for the guilt of his hunter, urgently asked Rostov to go to his eel, which was a mile away, which he kept for himself and in which, according to him, there were hares. Nikolai agreed, and the hunt, having doubled in size, moved on. It was necessary to walk to the Ilaginsky eel through fields. The hunters straightened out. The gentlemen rode together. Uncle, Rostov, Ilagin secretly glanced at other people's dogs, trying so that others would not notice, and anxiously looked for rivals for their dogs among these dogs. Rostov was especially struck by her beauty by a small pure-dog, narrow, but with steel muscles, a thin muzzle and bulging black eyes, a red-spotted bitch in Ilagin’s pack. He had heard about the agility of the Ilagin dogs, and in this beautiful bitch he saw his Milka’s rival. In the middle of a sedate conversation about this year's harvest, which Ilagin started, Nikolai pointed out to him his red-spotted bitch. - This bitch is good! – he said in a casual tone. - Rezva? - This? Yes, this is a good dog, it catches,” Ilagin said in an indifferent voice about his red-spotted Erza, for which a year ago he gave his neighbor three families of servants. “So you, Count, don’t boast about threshing?” – he continued the conversation he had started. And considering it polite to repay the young count in kind, Ilagin examined his dogs and chose Milka, who caught his eye with her width. - This black-spotted one is good - okay! - he said. “Yes, nothing, he’s jumping,” answered Nikolai. “If only a seasoned hare ran into the field, I would show you what kind of dog this is!” he thought, and turning to the stirrup man said that he would give a ruble to anyone who suspected, that is, found a lying hare. “I don’t understand,” Ilagin continued, “how other hunters are envious of the beast and the dogs.” I'll tell you about myself, Count. It makes me happy, you know, to take a ride; Now you’ll get together with such a company... what’s better (he again took off his beaver cap in front of Natasha); and this is to count the skins, how many I brought - I don’t care! - Well, yes. - Or so that I would be offended that someone else’s dog catches it, and not mine - I just want to admire the baiting, right, Count? Then I judge...

The hooligans who extinguished the Eternal Flame in Chelny were invited to Post No. 1

The news that two schoolchildren in Naberezhnye Chelny extinguished the Eternal Flame with snow acquired federal status within a few hours. All well-known media reported the incident, the prosecutor's office began an investigation, the police identified the hooligans and brought their parents to justice. The increased attention to emergency situations is no coincidence. Unfortunately, such incidents have recently begun to occur more and more often. So, this year the public has already discussed how in Togliatti teenagers threw snowballs at the flame of the Eternal Flame, in St. Petersburg they grilled kebab and danced lezginka in the memorial area. Recently, Elabuga was included in the list of “desecrated” cities - a group of schoolgirls warmed their feet over the symbol of memory.

What is behind what is happening - the unbridledness of the tik-toker generation or the gaps of patriotic education? Chelny Izvestia asked this question to its experts.

It's like dancing in a cemetery!

“I am deeply outraged by what happened,” Lyudmila Selezneva, chairman of the Council of Veterans of the 1st, 2nd, 4th complexes of the Komsomolsky district, told our publication. - It won’t occur to anyone to run and jump in the cemetery! And the memorial complex is just as sacred a place where people come to honor the memory of those killed in the war. We raised the issue of not holding events with songs and dances at the memorial. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, veterans were prohibited from teaching patriotic lessons in schools.”

Olga Aidimirova, chairman of TOS 4, 4A of the hydroelectric power station complexes, does not entirely agree with the veteran’s opinion.

“The memorial complex in the hydroelectric power station village is a busy place, especially in summer. There you can see young people riding skateboards and bicycles. Many come with children, and they enjoy climbing on combat vehicles, asking questions - where this equipment was used, in what battles it took part. And that's great! This is also patriotic education. The memorial complex should not be a dead zone, a Sheremetyevo village into which people are allowed only on major holidays,” the social activist is sure.

Another issue is the behavior of some teenagers.

“If a child behaves disrespectfully towards symbols of memory, then this is a failure of the parents. This means that in the family the children were not given an idea of ​​basic moral values,” says Aidimirova.

According to the chairman of the TOS, there is not enough youth infrastructure in the Komsomolskaya region.

“Yes, teenagers go to hang out at the Eternal Flame and engage in active recreation there, because we don’t have our own extreme park. And such a site in the old part of the city would definitely not hurt,” a resident of the area is sure.

Are the parents “assigned” to blame?

The general director, father of many children, Pavel Evdokimov, does not fully share the point of view about the responsibility of parents for what happened on the territory of the Motherland complex.

“I am against a simplified approach to such incidents. And here it is becoming fashionable. If something out of the ordinary happens, the culprit is quickly assigned, and a report is sent to the top that measures have been taken. In this case, the parents were made the extreme ones. I am a father of many children and, to be honest, I don’t have family conversations about respect for the older generation in general. Because I think that what deserves respect, first of all, is not age, but a person’s actions and behavior. As for memorable places, my parents personally didn’t take me by the hand to them; rather, they were episodes from school life. The state is interested in patriotic education, so maybe it’s time for civil servants to get up from their chairs and start making efforts so that the memory of the war ceases to be a formality? This generation of ours grew up on courtyard “wars with the fascists” and old-father’s stories. Today’s teenagers, unfortunately, do not have such a resource,” the entrepreneur said.

The director of the Museum-Memorial of the Great Patriotic War of the National Museum of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mikhail Cherepanov, spoke more categorically.

“Such incidents, unfortunately, do happen. Either homeless people dry their socks over the Eternal Flame, or TikTokers dance. That's not even the question. On the other hand, who should ensure that this does not happen? If you allow me to remind you. Naberezhnye Chelny is one of the few cities in Russia where Post No. 1 operates. Its main function is to guard the Eternal Flame. The question is, where were the guards and why didn’t they save the symbol of memory?” - the historian asked.

The publication forwarded it to the teacher-organizer of Post No. 1, Nikolai Berdnikov.

“Even when we clean the mouth, we put a lamp nearby”

“Post No. 1 has been operating in the city for 46 years, starting on May 9, 1975. The eternal flame was brought to Naberezhnye Chelny from Volgograd and the flame was lit near the new monument. This was done by Heroes of the Soviet Union Yuri Kardashenko, Nikolai Yakupov and full Knight of the Order of Glory Ziatdin Aruslanov. In the first years, the watch at Post No. 1 was carried out only on significant dates. In 1985, the city decided to create a permanent post,” said teacher-organizer Nikolai Berdnikov.

According to the teacher, Chelny schoolchildren carry out the Memory Watch; 1,200 students pass through the post every year. Each teenager comes to fast for seven days.

“During this time, he becomes a soldier - he puts on a military uniform, picks up a model of a military weapon, trains and performs drill and voice techniques that are used when guarding the memorial of the dead and missing Chelny residents. There are 6,812 names engraved on the marble canvas of the Chelny memorial, of which 5,060 were dead and 1,749 were missing,” recalled Berdnikov.

Of the 75 existing posts in Russia, only three work on a permanent basis: military personnel serve in Moscow and Volgograd, and teenagers serve in Naberezhnye Chelny. That is why there is a tradition - from time to time near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, Chelny children perform a guard of honor along with the soldiers. They are even trusted with real carbines at the Post.

The guards are on duty from seven in the morning to four in the evening every day. In the evening, the memorial is under the protection of employees of the Komsomolskaya Department of Internal Affairs, and video surveillance is also carried out. By the way, we managed to track the hooligans using the cameras.

“It happens that the Eternal Flame is extinguished due to heavy rain or wind. We take action immediately. And when we clean the crater directly from which the flame rises, we place a lamp or a burning candle nearby, because the fire of memory should never go out,” says Berdnikov.

The publication’s interlocutor noted that cases when outsiders began to bully guards had become more frequent.

Berdnikov admitted that what happened touched him to the quick.

“My grandfather went missing near Volgograd in January 1942. Therefore, I worry when I encounter a disrespectful attitude towards the memory of the war. But I still invite hooligans to visit us at Post No. 1 - we’ll give you a tour and show you all the sights. They won’t play pranks anymore, I hope!” - said the teacher.