Russian veterans at the Soviet War Memorial in London, May 9, 2016

The further the year of 1945 goes down in history, the less and less of the war heroes we have beside us. We are eternally grateful to the feat of arms of the soldiers of the country and heroic actions of workers of the home front. Our gratitude goes to those who carried the weight of the hardships of the war, overcame pain and won over the death itself. Thank you to those who raised the country from ruins and showed with their lives what the generation of the victors should be like.

New Year is the time of miracles, the time when we should live by the heart. Znaniye Russian School, the UK is happy to announce two charitable projects for the upcoming days of Christmas and New Year. It is incredibly important to congratulate the veterans of the war in the year of 75^th Anniversary of the Victory and show them our reverence and respect.

WW2 boy soldier N. K. Imchuk speaks to pupils of Znanie Russian school, London, May 7, 2015

The defenders of the Fatherland from the last call are a very special category of people who barely turned 17 in the years 1942-1944 and who were drafted into the Red Army. They all were underage on the day of their call. No time to hug their high school sweethearts, no time to figure out what love really is. There were our veterans among these boys and girls. We should never forget the names of those who gifted us peace and the bright skies above.
We at Znaniye Russian School have decided to lead a project for the beautiful and bright days of New Year and give to the veterans not only holiday sets but also some warmth. From London, we wanted to show to them that we remember and respect everything they have done. We are very grateful to them for the life we get to have.

visiting Col (Retd.) Yevgeny Petrovich Kurapatkov, Dec 16, 2020

The project “My holiday card for the veteran” presented our students with the opportunity to create the card by themselves and send it directly to the veteran in Russia. The project “Gift for the veteran” is an online meeting of the veterans from Russia where the kids could get to know our heroes closer and figure out why is it, in fact, so important to remember them. Besides, every class of Znaniye Russian School had a chance to gather donations, which were sent to our partners’ foundation “The Last World War 2 Soldier” in order to purchase the gifts. By letting our children take part in projects like this, we teach them kindness and respect towards the veterans and all older generation.

Christmas card to the Russian veterans 

Sadly, currently we are far away from each other, hence there is no opportunity for us to invite the veterans to tell us more about the heroism of their actions and bravery in times of the War to the school personally. Besides all the memories, the veterans also have medals and behind each medal there is its own hero.
 

The idea for the project came from the students. In terms of the initiative, each of 30 classes of Znaniye Russian School got their “own” veteran whose biography they studied thoroughly. In addition, for the months of November and December the children worked hard in order to write letters to their heroes and create video messages which all will be delivered to the veterans through the foundation “The Last World War Two Soldier”. We also already received pictures and videos of the delivery process of the gifts to the veterans and their kind words back for the kids!

Russian and Latvian veterans with pupils of Znanie Russian school,, London, May 7, 2015

Here are the names of the Russian heroes to whom we dedicate this project:

• Anatoliy Pavlovich Zhivov (Анатолий Павлович Живов);

• Nikolai Konstantinovich Imchuk (Николай Константинович Имчук);

• Boris Anatoliyevich Kotov (Борис Анатольевич Котов);

• Nikolai Lukiyanovich Dupak (Николай Лукьянович Дупак);

• Nina Mihailovna Danilkovich (Нина Михайловна Данилкович);

• Leonid Leonidovich Fyodorov (Леонид Леонидович Федоров);

• Boris Samoylovich Golovchiner (Борис Самойлович Головчинер);

• Nikolai Petrovich Kozlov (Николай Петрович Козлов);

• Maria Mihailovna Anphilophieva (Мария Михайловна Анфилофьева);

• Victor Nikolaevich Harchev (Виктор Николаевич Харчев);

• Maria Georgievna Faustova (Мария Георгиевна Фаустова);

• Leonid Ivanovich Rogal’ (Леонид Иванович Рогаль);

• Valeriy Vasil’evich Balinov (Валерий Васильевич Балинов);

• Valentin Dmitrievich Poloznyak (Валентин Дмитриевич Полозняк);

• Boris Vladimirovich Davydov (Борис Владимирович Давыдов);

• Evgeniy Petrovich Kuropatkov (Евгений Петрович Куропатков);

• Mikhail Yakovlevich Buloshnikov (Михаил Яковлевич Булошников);

• Lyudmila Ivanovna Smirnova (Людмила Ивановна Смирнова);

• Nikolai Vasilyevich Morozov (Николай Васильевич Морозов);

• Valentin Ivanovich Timonin (Валентин Иванович Тимонин);

• Petr Pavlovich Sagan (Петр Павлович Саган);

• Ivan Petrovich Lytkin (Иван Петрович Лыткин);

• Boris Vasil’evich Tarasov (Борис Васильевич Тарасов);

• Eduard Haliullovich Faizov (Эдуард Халиуллович Фаизов);

• Stanislav Aleksandrovich Zvezdov (Станислав Александрович Звездов);

• Aleksandr Vasil’evich Lochagin (Александр Васильевич Лочагин);

• Vasiliy Pavlovich Slobodchikov (Василий Павлович Слободчиков);

• Inna Vasilyevna Astashenko (Инна Васильевна Асташенко);
• Lyudmila Borisovna Rodivilina (Людмила Борисовна Родивилина).

Russian veterans with students and teachers of Znanie Russian school,, London, May 9, 2016

We also would like to say thank you to the parents of our students who helped with gathering the donations for the gift sets and to the staff of Znaniye Russian School who worked hard in order to make the project happen.

A very special thank you goes to the founder and director of Znaniye Russian School Aina Mamaeva. She is the inspiration for the project and the person who made the meetings with the veterans happen many times before. Aina is supporting various charitable projects and helps not only the veterans and elderly but the children as well.

Machine gunner L. L. Fedorov with Russian children, London, May 11, 2019

Memories of the heroes of the war should live forever! While we remember the past, we will always have the future.

Alisa Kiviryan in collaboration with Alexander Goncharov