The project was organized by the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg within the framework of the implementation by the Government of St. Petersburg of the state policy of the Russian Federation towards compatriots abroad.
63 compatriots from 16 countries took part in the jubilee program: Germany, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia and Estonia.
The opening ceremony of the program took place in the multimedia historical park “Russia is my story”, where the guests were given a tour of the expositions of the modern complex, as well as an interactive lesson “The Day of Acquaintance”.
It is worth noting that the project “Reading the Blockade Book” has its loyal fans, who every year does everything possible to come back to St. Petersburg and take part in the program. One of these participants is Sergey Busarev (Lithuania) - a military historian, an active public figure who took the floor at the opening ceremony of the jubilee program. “I want to thank the creators of this program for the fact that it exists, because it shows exactly the story that was in fact, which many countries are now trying to rewrite. I am sure that children will like the program. Last year we stood on all expositions with open mouths, because this is not seen here. I really hope that the children will take a small part of this program to their countries and there they will shine bright and sunny, they will be able to tell about what Russia, St. Petersburg, Leningrad really is. I want to thank once again the organizers that there is such a program, and I hope that it will continue further, because at the moment it is simply necessary! ” He said.
As part of the program, young compatriots visited the museum of the "Lenrezerv" patriotic association. As acknowledged by the participants, the monumental exposition, open to the 75th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist siege, where a full-scale street was built, made a very strong impression on everyone without exception.
Here, the guests of the northern capital saw more than a hundred samples of rare military and civilian equipment, children had the opportunity not only to see, but also to hold in their hands unique pieces of a collection of weapons, ammunition, orders, medals, awards and flags of the Great Patriotic War.
The obligatory point of the program was, of course, the visit the mass graves and burials at the Piskaryov Memorial Cemetery. The participants of the program “Reading the blockade book” laid flowers and a wreath at the Mother Russia monument, paying tribute to the victims of Leningrad, visited the museum of the memorial and became acquainted with the poetry of Olga Bergholz.
No less emotional was the journey along the famous "Road of Life", which linked blockaded Leningrad with the mainland. Young people saw the Rzhevsky Corridor, the Uglovsky Heights, the monument “The Broken Ring”, a memorial to children who died in the blockade of Leningrad, Vaganovsky Descent and much more. A special moment of the excursion was a meeting with the specialists of the search association "St. George", leading search work in the area of "Nevsky Bridge-head". The head of the association, Oleg Alekseev, told compatriots many unique facts about the history of this place, showed them artifacts found during excavations. Under the eyes of participants of the program, experts found and raised the remains of two Red Army soldiers.
Maria Yermak, a participant from Ukraine, shared her impressions about the program: “This is the first time we are in St. Petersburg, and we are subdued by this beautiful city, its great history! I especially want to mention excursions of the last days. They were difficult for perception due to the subject matter, but we learned a lot of new things, although it was believed that we already knew, studied, told and remembered. Nevertheless, even I am an adult, I really learned a lot, I learned a lot, and I want to emphasize, I learned not with my mind, but with my heart! And the internal thing that I will take away from St. Petersburg, I want to share this with the children in the cadet corps. All that is new that I have learned and felt, I will definitely pass! ”
"Reading the Blockade Book" is an educational program. Leading specialists of the St. Petersburg Academy of Postgraduate Education conducted game lessons on the Russian language and the history of the city for young compatriots, also “round tables” were organized for the adult audience, during which they discussed issues of maintaining interest in learning native Russian language among children brought up in a foreign language environment. Accompanying adults were also able to exchange experiences in the field of language teaching for bilingual children with colleagues from the academy.
Among other things, compatriots made a bus and walking tour of the city with the symbolic name “Blockaded Leningrad and modern Petersburg”, watched the exhibition “Blockaded Leningrad” in the mansion of Count Rumyantsev, and also visited the Erarta Museum of Modern Art, where interactive lesson "Image of Russia". Young guests looked at different Russia through the eyes of modern artists, then visited the interactive space of the Russian traditional hut, and then traveled to the historical past of our country.
The most exciting moment of the program is, of course, a meeting with veterans - children of besieged Leningrad. With those who saw with their own eyes all the horrors of war, experienced hunger, fear, heard the whistle of bullets and the sounds of bombs exploding over the city. Nobody hid tears here: the stories of the guests of the meeting about mutual assistance, friendship and victory of not one person, but the whole country, the whole world over evil, touched all the participants of the “Reading the Blockade Book” program. Compatriots gave veterans flowers and souvenirs brought from their countries, and also showed a concert program consisting of numbers that they prepared. The young people read poems, sang songs of the war years and thanked for giving the young generation the freedom to choose their destiny and peaceful sky over their heads.
As part of the closing ceremony of the “Reading the Blockade Book” program, the first deputy chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, Sergei Markov, addressed the guests on behalf of the organizers. “Memory is important not only material, memory is important, transmitted from mouth to mouth in the form of books, conversations. And all this you can realize. Write a personal essay about your stay in St. Petersburg. Write from the heart. I think it will be your most sincere thanks to our city, which you can do by visiting our program. And let St. Petersburg remain in your heart for a long time!” He said.
At the end of the ceremony, each of the participants received a certificate and a memorable gift from the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, but none of the children wanted to part. Despite the fact that the participants exchanged contacts at the very beginning and promised to write to each other, they really became close to each other, for this small journey, with the culture of Russia and the history of the city-hero of Leningrad.