Armenia participates in  " Truth is One " project commemorating 82nd  anniversary of Great Patriotic War victory - Rossotrudnichestvo

ArmInfo. From May 11 to 17, representatives of Armenia took part in the " Truth is One " project  in St. Petersburg, dedicated to the 82nd anniversary of the Soviet people's victory in the Great Patriotic War.

According to the press service of the Russian House in Yerevan, over  the course of the week, participants attended lectures by leading  historians, visited thematic museums and memorial sites, met with  survivors of the Siege of Leningrad, and participated in roundtables  and discussions on patriotic education of youth and combating the  falsification of history. A particularly moving highlight of the  program was the meeting with female survivors of the Siege of  Leningrad, who shared childhood memories of the blockade that deeply  touched everyone present. According to the source, Armenia was  represented by Anahit Grigoryants, director of the branch of the  International Public Organization "Union of Orthodox Women," and  Tatevik Lazaryan, a journalist and teacher.

In her welcoming remarks, Grigoryants emphasized the special bond  between Armenia and Leningrad during the tragic years of the siege.   "Armenia took in more than 200 young, malnourished children from  besieged Leningrad, who found a second home here. Ten Armenian,  Heroes of the Soviet Union, fought for Leningrad. Among them were  Lieutenant Colonel Nelson Stepanyan, a twice-decorated ground-attack  pilot of the Black Sea and Baltic Fleets, and Admiral of the Fleet  Ivan Isakov, who served as Chief of the Naval Academy in Leningrad, a  member of the Front's Military Council, and a representative of the  Supreme High Command Headquarters.  Out of 100,000 Armenian defenders  of Leningrad—40,000 of whom were volunteers and city defenders—  20,000 never returned home. For a small country like Armenia, these  are huge figures," she noted. 

Grigoryants also shared a photograph of the Yerevan monument "To the  Children of Sieged Leningrad" and noted that every year on January  27, the day the siege was completely lifted, flowers are laid at this  monument in Armenia. In turn, Lazaryan presented her research paper,  "Postmemory and Family Narratives of the Great Patriotic War," which  explores the mechanisms of preserving and transmitting family memory  between generations. She explained that her interest in the research  topic was sparked by the stories of her parents, as well as the  biographies of grandparents, relatives, and family members whose  lives intertwined with wartime events.  "History becomes closer, more  comprehensible, and emotionally meaningful when revealed through real  human destinies and personal biographies," the journalist emphasized.

According to the source, the project was organized by the St.  Petersburg Committee for Foreign Relations with the support of  Rossotrudnichestvo, bringing together compatriots from various  countries around the topic of preserving historical memory.