The remains of Armenian composer Harutyun Oganesyan, who died defending Leningrad during WWII, were ceremoniously buried in the Leningrad region.

ArmInfo. A solemn funeral ceremony was held in the Leningrad Region for the remains of the renowned Armenian composer Harutyun Sarkisovich Oganesyan, who died defending Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. The remains were interred at the "Izhora Ram" memorial in the Tosnensky District of the Leningrad Region, not far from the site of his death.

In 2024, in the Tosnensky District of the Leningrad Region, members of the public interregional historical and patriotic organization (OMIPPO) "Doblest" discovered the remains of six Red Army soldiers. They were in a forward trench during December 1941 on the outskirts of Leningrad. During a thorough examination and exhumation, the remains of one of the soldiers were found to contain a so-called "Posthumous medallion." The decryption revealed that the deceased was Lieutenant Harutyun Sarkisovich Oganesyan, a prominent Armenian composer.

He was born on July 5, 1908, and was passionate about music from childhood. After graduating from high school in 1928, he entered the Yerevan Music College, later transferring to the A. L. Stepanyan composition department. In 1933, he moved to Leningrad, where he entered the conservatory (now the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg Conservatory). Over the course of his creative career, Harutyun Sarkisovich created numerous outstanding musical works, which received critical acclaim and were included in various collections. He presented his works at concerts of young and emerging Armenian composers in Moscow, became a postgraduate student at the conservatory, and became a member of the Composers' Union.

Before the outbreak of war, Arutyun Sarkisovich refused to be evacuated from Leningrad to the rear areas and, having enlisted in the people's militia, secured a posting to lieutenant school. In the fall of 1941, he was sent to the front as a platoon commander in the 708th Rifle Regiment of the 43rd Rifle Division. He died defending Leningrad in December 1941 at the age of 33.

Members of search teams spent a long time trying to find Arutyun Sarkisovich's direct relatives. During the search, it was discovered that there were none left, as Arutyun Sarkisovich had no children.

The heir to Arutyun Sarkisovich's work is the St. Petersburg Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. It was its employees and managers who responded to the search teams' request. It turned out that the institution reverently preserves the memory of Arutyun Sarkisovich, and his name is engraved on a memorial plaque among other employees who died during the war.