Photo credit: mos.ru
The citizens of Narva will commemorate the memory of those died defeating the Estonian city by laying wreaths and flowers on July 26. For many years, enthusiasts have been searching for the remains of Red Army soldiers in Narva and its environs, while local authorities refuse to recognize prisoners of concentration camps and help veterans, Sputnik reports.
Narva was freed from the Nazis several months after the blockade of Leningrad was broken. The city was reconquered at the cost of enormous heroism and great losses. According to historians, about 70 thousand Soviet soldiers were killed during the battles, the enemy’s losses amounted to about 35 thousand soldiers and officers.
Part of the dead soldiers of the Red Army rests in mass graves in the vicinity of Narva. Due to legal confusion and the unwillingness of the Estonian authorities to cooperate in establishing historical facts, it is not yet possible to find out the names of those buried. Thanks to the work of search teams near Narva, soldier remains are regularly found. Some of them are re-buried in Estonia, and some (mostly with established names) are sent to Russia.
At the moment, according to the information of the Council of Veterans of Narva, 38 veterans of the Great Patriotic War live in the city. At the celebrations in honor of the 75th anniversary of Narva, the chairman of the Society of Young Prisoners of Fascism, Nikolay Alekseev is awaited. In the years of early childhood he spent several years in Buchenwald concentration camp. According to him, Estonia does not recognize young prisoners of fascism and does not render any assistance to them. Nikolay Alekseev is grateful to Russia for support and cash payments. Residents of neighboring Ivangorod, who were liberated a day before Narva, will take part in the commemorative events.
Russkiy Mir
