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“Love your Motherland like your mother.” One of the oldest members of the Union of Soviet Citizens in Belgium passed away

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“Love your Motherland like your mother.” One of the oldest members of the Union of Soviet Citizens in Belgium passed away


31.07.2018

Flickr/Patrick

Maria Kostuleva-Doigelare passed away at the age of 90. She was the Head of one of the branches of the Union of Soviet Citizens in Belgium, one of the oldest organizations of Russian compatriots in the country. Russian mission representatives and countrymen send their condolences to the family. 

Maria moved abroad during WW2 when she was very young. When she was only 15 she was sent as an “Eastern worker” to Germany. She was rounded up in her hometown Nikolaev, Ukraine, and brought to Germany along with many other city residents.Three years she was held in a camp being beaten and humiliated. She met her future husband in the same camp. He was Belgian. At first Maria didn't want to stay abroad, but then she's decided to follow her future husband to his birth land, Belgium.   

The close friend of Maria, the Head of the Union of Soviet Citizens in Belgium Vera Kushnareva has marked that despite Belgian citizenship, they carried on the love for their homeland through all their lives. “We have learned with Masha, that  one has to have love for the Motherland like a mother through all our life. We were given a Belgian citizenship, but in the soul we would always stay Soviet, Russian people,” underlined  Vera Kushnareva.

The Union of Soviet Citizens in Belgium was created for all citizens of USSR who live in Belgium. It aims strengthening connections with the birth land and promoting patriotism. 

Russkiy Mir

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