I consider the Immortal Regiment to be the best event in memory of the war. This is exactly what can unite people of any generation, political views or religious preferences. And, what is especially important, anyone can take part in this action; there is no elitism of traditional parades. Today in Moscow 750 thousand people took part in the march, this is a record for all the years of the action’s existence.
The Immortal Regiment campaign was invented in 2012 by journalists of the Tomsk Media Group. Only 6 thousand people took part in the very first procession, but since then the event has become nationwide. Over these few years, the TV-2 channel, which organized the first action, was closed for excessive opposition, and the Immortal Regiment itself (now under the supervision of the state) turned into one of the main events of Victory Day.
Last year, in addition to Russia, the event took place in 44 other countries around the world. A year later, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan refused to hold the action, citing “difficult political situation"and the traditions of Islam, but this did not stop it from being massive (and the action was still held in Tashkent, despite the ban from the authorities). And back in 2016, a search center began operating Immortal Regiment, which helps relatives of missing people restore the fates of their loved ones.
01. In Moscow, people lined up on Tverskaya several hours before the start of the action. To avoid a crush, the police divided the crowd into groups and did not allow everyone to pass at once. 
02. Red Square was tightly cordoned off. There were a lot of police, riot police and volunteers. On the roof Historical Museum and on the right on the Kremlin wall you can see snipers. Security was on top level due to the fact that Putin again took part in the action. 
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04. Volunteers distributed water. 
05. Everyone was fed buckwheat porridge and hot tea for free. 
06. Other volunteers specialized in distributing stickers and other paraphernalia. 
07. There were also traders among the people who tried to sell flags and other symbols at exorbitant prices. Someone even tried to sell St. George ribbons, for which he was almost beaten, but escaped in time. 
08. Traders 
09. A variety of people came to the rally. Someone was carrying portraits of Stalin. 
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11. Others were with Orthodox icons. 
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13. There were many organized groups. 
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15. Giant George Ribbon
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24. The facade of the Historical Museum was decorated with order ribbons. 
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26. Notice the American flag. 
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30. When it started to rain, umbrellas joined the posters 
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33. Someone did not limit himself to portraits of relatives. 
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42. There were a lot of people. 
43. About 750 thousand people took part in the action in Moscow. 
The “Immortal Regiment” action dedicated to Victory Day turned out to be a larger-scale event than opponents of unity would like Russian people: half a million people walked through the streets of Moscow with photographs of their front-line relatives. And even more than that, participation in the procession by President Vladimir Putin, who led the column of demonstrators, became a powerful symbolic act, maximally emphasizing the idea of patriotic unification of Russians.
It is not surprising that the criticism followed was harsh and planned - photographs of discarded posters with photographs of front-line soldiers began to surface on social networks, which, according to anonymous rumors, were carried by people “driven” to Moscow for extras. For many, a photograph of a trash can full of St. George's ribbons was enough, and details such as the time and location of the shooting and its author were not key to assessing its credibility.
Head of the regional patriotic public organization“Immortal Regiment - Moscow”, one of the organizers of the event Nikolai Zemtsov told journalists of the publication “Vzglyad” that the country needs such actions now, they allow you to feel like one big family, regardless of where you live. According to Zemtsov, the number of participants, which exceeded expectations, only confirmed that people need such events.
The “Immortal Regiment” began to grow in numbers of volunteers, and the army already took to the streets of our cities. This is reality. With its strength and beauty, the regiment gathers friends of Russia. And the enemies tremble: such a unification of Russians is scary for those who would like fragmentation, malicious attacks by different parts of society on each other. And here is such a disappointment for them: we showed that we are one family, and we were led by a president who showed that he is a person like everyone else, and spoke about the connection between his simple soldier father and the country. We were all in the same formation that day,” noted Nikolai Zemtsov.
As for negative stuffing, Zemtsov noted that any good deed is accompanied by a wave of negativity. According to him, the photographs were taken rather clumsily and were intended only for a quick glance.
« But they cooked everything up so poorly: for example, the cut St. George ribbons in trash can- I've never seen anything like this. The same goes for discarded posters. Look at the photographs of our procession: there is a sea of various banners, rarely the same ones. And in those photos there are some identical structures thrown into a pile... Just look at the faces of the participants. Everyone smiles, laughs, and there is an emotional upsurge. How can a person go and throw something away after this?” - says Zemtsov.
Meanwhile, it became known that the Immortal Regiment movement has already appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office. The chairman of the movement's council, Sergei Lapenkov, sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Moscow Prosecutor's Office - he asks for a legal assessment of the photographs posted on the Internet, which show discarded posters with images of Great Britain veterans Patriotic War.
“We consider such actions insulting to veterans. In addition, there is reason to believe that these actions fall under the article “ Public insult characters military glory Russia” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, since the posters have a St. George’s ribbon,” Lapenkov explained to reporters.
The main task of the Immortal Regiment is to preserve in each Russian family in memory of the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. Participation in the Immortal Regiment means that everyone who remembers and honors their army and navy veteran, partisan, underground fighter, resistance fighter, home front worker, concentration camp prisoner, on May 9 goes out onto the city streets with a photograph of a soldier to take part in the parade in the Immortal column shelf, or pay tribute to memory yourself by bringing a photograph to Eternal Flame or other memorial place. Our ultimate goal is to turn the Immortal Regiment into a nationwide tradition of celebrating Victory Day on May 9.
1. What do you need to do to take part in the May 9 Parade as part of the Immortal Regiment?
First, you need to look in your home archives or on third-party sources for the name of your soldier, military rank and some other data. Then try to register it on the Immortal Regiment website. The most important and important step in participating in the action is making a sign with a portrait and data of a soldier and showing up at the beginning of the May 9 Parade in our city.
2. Help me find information about my grandfather, a war veteran, is there no information left in the family?
We do not do search work, but we can suggest which ones open sources you can obtain information about your relative who participated in the Great Patriotic War.
Most full information contained in the “Find a Soldier” section. At the bottom of the page there is a presentation that can be downloaded. There you can find information on how and where to search.
There are two websites prepared using the Ministry of Defense databases. Nothing more complete than them exists in the public domain. Mistakes are, of course, possible. The sites are valuable because they contain scanned copies of documents.
5. Can I enroll not my grandfather in the Immortal Regiment, but my grandmother, who fought? Certainly! Not only is it possible, but it is also necessary. As well as father, great-grandfather and other front-line relatives. 6. Which regiment should I enroll my grandfather in if he was conscripted from a city where there is no “Immortal Regiment”? You can enroll a front-line soldier in the regiment of your city, or, if there is none in your city, in the section ‘Russian Federation, Russia’.
7. Maybepassing in the ranks without registering your grandfather on the site? Of course, take a photo or a pillar and come to the formation.
8. Where to do itpillarwith a portrait for the “Immortal Regiment”? To find out the addresses of partner salons, you need to contact the organizer in your city. The coordinates of the organizers can be found on the website moypolk.ru in the section “Regimental Headquarters”. 9. Can I join the “Immortal Regiment” just with a photograph? If you do it yourselfpillarwhat size should it be?
People should see the faces of the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. If you carry a photograph, few will see it. Especially in a column. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you come to the “Immortal Regiment” column with a photo on pillars (sticks). Make them yourself or order them at order centers. You can come with a photo, but it is better to enlarge it. The recommended size is approximately A4 format (20x30 cm). In case of bad weather, it is better to roll it up in laminate.
10. Whatwhat to do if you don’t have a photo of your front-line soldier? If your photo album does not contain photographs of a front-line soldier, you can make a sign on which the NAME, SURNAME, PATRONIC NAME and military rank will be written. With this sign you can also join the ranks of the “Immortal Regiment”.
11. Where and when will the construction take place in my city? Do I need to register in advance? There is no need to sign up in advance, just come with a portrait of a front-line soldier to the formation. The organizers inform the media of your city in advance about the place and time, and it will also be posted on the website moypolk.ru. If you do not find this information, contact the organizers in your city.
Parade of the Immortal Regiment
The Immortal Regiment is a Russian social movement in memory of the participants of the Great Patriotic War, those who died, died in peacetime from wounds and old age. The “Immortal Regiment” allows living Russians to pay tribute to those who defended their Motherland, to feel involved in the great deed they accomplished, and to demonstrate unity and patriotism.Authors of the idea of the “Immortal Regiment”
The wonderful idea to connect the past and present of the people, to transform Victory Day from a holiday of only veterans, of whom, alas, is becoming less and less, into a national holiday belongs to the journalists of the Tomsk TV channel TV-2 Sergei Lapenkov, Sergei Kolotovkin and Igor Dmitriev. For the first time, the “Immortal Regiment” campaign was held in Tomsk in 2012; then only 7 thousand residents of Tomsk gathered to contribute to its creation. Today, millions take part in the Immortal Regiment parade. In Moscow alone, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, about 500,000 residents of the capital and its suburbs marched as part of the “Immortal Regiment”.
Attributes of the Immortal Regiment movement
In principle, a person simply needs to join the column of demonstrators. But it is advisable to have a photograph of a relative who participated in the war. After all, it is precisely this, albeit absentee, posthumous presence of front-line soldiers that makes it possible for Russian citizens to feel like a single whole, a people, a force.
« That day, for the first time, I realized that I was Russian and lived in Russia... and I suddenly felt this Russia, its past and present, and my blood relationship with it. What was the charm of what I felt then? In the feeling of Russia and the fact that it is my homeland. In the feeling of connection with the past, distant, common, expanding our soul, reminiscent of our involvement in this common.” (I. Bunin “The Life of Arsenyev”)
The photo shows the first "Immortal Regiment" in our city. 2014
Every year, memories of that war fade into history, fewer and fewer veterans remain in the festive column, and only veterans remain in the stands.
Every family has its own Heroes. These are our fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers - everyone who defeated fascism in the Great Patriotic War. Some went through the entire war, some died in its first days, some had more awards, some had fewer. But the memory of the years scorched by the war is kept in every family, in the stories of relatives and friends, in letters from the front kept in the house, and in war photographs.
"Immortal Regiment"- an action designed to preserve the memory of the Great Patriotic War, of everyone who, without sparing their lives, fought for the liberation of the Motherland.
The Immortal Regiment is a tribute to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War who fell on the battlefields and died from bombing in besieged cities and villages. This is a memory of the women and children who were burned alive in concentration camps or during punitive operations.
The Immortal Regiment is a reminder to current generations about the fate of the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad, the defenders Brest Fortress, Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk, Voronezh and Orel, Belgorod and Sevastopol, Murmansk and Koenigsberg.
The Immortal Regiment is the memory of the liberators of our native land
The Immortal Regiment is a regiment of living, people's memory.
The Immortal Regiment is the least that each of us can do to ensure that our parents, their brothers and sisters, relatives, friends and fellow soldiers live on bright memory. The warriors and defenders of the Russian land who defeated fascism will forever remain in the ranks of the Immortal Regiment.
Project symbol - White Crane, as a sign that those who died during the war and died in peacetime remain in our hearts from generation to generation.
Eternal glory to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
Task: to bring on Victory Day a photograph of a Great Patriotic War veteran who will never be able to take part in the Victory Day parade. It does not matter whether the warrior died on the battlefield or passed away after the Victory
Every citizen can join the ranks of the regiment, regardless of religion, nationality, political and other views. "Immortal Regiment" - unites people.
The action itself is held on May 9, Victory Day. Participants of the action can take part in the formation of the column of the “Immortal Regiment” by making a sign with a photo of a soldier of the Great Patriotic War. A sign is an enlarged, scanned photograph mounted on thick cardboard or PVC, laminated, attached to a holder.
Yesterday I brought my parents, front-line soldiers, to the website of the Immortal Regiment of our city. I ordered pillars with their photographs.
Are you ready to take part in the “Immortal Regiment” campaign?
