Young people from 24 regions of Russia took part in search operations in the Tver region

Young people from 24 regions of Russia, from the Primorsky Territory to the Kaliningrad Region, took part in search operations in the Tver region as part of the special project "More than expeditions". The work took place at the sites where the Battle of Rzhev took place in 1942-1943.

The organizers of the special project were the Rosmolodezh program "More than a journey", the Trizna search association and the Victory Museum.

"In July of this year, as part of the special project "More than expeditions", three races were held, attended by 180 young people from 24 regions of Russia. Together with the instructors of the Trizna search association, the children lived in tents for a week and searched daily for traces of the history of the Great Patriotic War. The Rzhev salient is the epicenter of the bloody battles in which Victory was forged. Its retention pulled the elite divisions of the Wehrmacht away from Stalingrad and influenced the entire course of the war. The guys have already found many artifacts: from fragments of tank tracks and shell casings to personal belongings of soldiers of both armies. But the most important thing we are here for is the search for nameless heroes. Sometimes it is possible to find medallions with data that allow us to contact the families of fallen soldiers decades later," said Stanislav Kireev, Deputy General Director of ANO More than a Journey.

During the educational program of the search expeditions, the participants mastered teamwork skills, learned how to plan search routes, record finds and work with the discovered personal belongings of the fighters. They also immersed themselves in the archive search methodology and learned about the recovery of the names of the missing heroes.

In addition, the participants visited the memorial "Wall of Memory", which was erected on the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Great Patriotic War. There, the names of fallen heroes are immortalized on the slabs, and the 24th figure of a soldier stands above them.

The young people also visited the Western Direction Search Museum in Burnt Hillfort, the Center for Patriotic Education in Rzhev, and walked along the Alley of Heroes of the Soviet Union in Grazinsky Park.

One of the participants of the tour, Elizaveta Reutskova from Shchelkovo, noted that the trip helped her to take a different look at the history of the Great Patriotic War and the work of search engines.

"I expected that participating in the expedition would expand my knowledge of the Great Patriotic War, allow me to better understand and feel the events of that time. The trip exceeded expectations. When you hold in your hands the thing that belonged to the deceased, the distance disappears and the story becomes real. You begin to realize that behind every line of "missing" in official documents is a man who gave his life for his Homeland, and you realize the price the Victory came at," the girl said.

The "More than a Journey" program is part of the ecosystem of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and is being implemented as part of the national Youth and Children project. The program is supported by the Movement of the First, the Russian Society "Znanie", the presidential platform "Russia — the land of opportunities", the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.