In 2012, on the eve of the Victory Day, employees of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum-reserve elaborated and implemented the project aimed at the making of the disc “Voices of Winners”. It contains audio recording of recollections of the participants of the Great Patriotic War and homefront workers – natives and residents of the Kirillov district. Later these recordings were placed in a special section of the museum website: http://www.kirmuseum.ru/pobeditely.
There are not only audio recordings, but also documents and photos of 65 participants of the war, homefront workers and children born in the wartime. A separate page tells about every person. The project “Voices of Winners” can be called a sound book: the total recording time is about 30 hours. Materials for it were prepared by employees of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum-reserve from 2004 to 2012.
The stories of eye-witnesses give invaluable material which supplements the history of the national feat. The front didn’t reach Kirillov during the Great Patriotic War, but over 17 thousand Kirillov’s residents fought at all fronts and in all combat arms. Usual soldiers tell about “their” war: a field engineer, a machine gunner, an artilleryman, a signalman, an infantryman, an anti-aircraft gunner, a nurse, a radio operator... Many of them were awarded orders and medals. You can listen to the recollections of A.V. Andreev (1921-2009), Hero of the Soviet Union, native of the Kirillov district. The secondary school in the Ferapontovo village is named after him.
The number of eye-witnesses of the wartime events which took place at the front and in the rear decreases every year. The project “Voices of Winners” is directed to commemorate the veterans and to bring up younger generation to feel gratitude to them.
