Memorial "Memory" on Dzerzhinsky Avenue in Minsk is an important historical site dedicated to the memory of Soviet soldiers who perished during the Great Patriotic War. In the southwest of the capital, near the former village of Petroshchina, lies a mass grave containing 35 soldiers, 24 of whom remain unidentified. This memorial preserves the memory of the tragic events of June 28, 1941, when Red Army fighters died in an unequal battle against Nazi invaders on the Minsk-Brest highway.
The memorial has existed since the 1960s, when a small obelisk topped with a five-pointed star was erected at the burial site. This modest monument stood until 2013, when it was completely reconstructed at the initiative of the administration of the Moscow District of Minsk. The renovation of the memorial complex was funded through voluntary donations from enterprises, organizations, and concerned citizens.
The new composition was developed under the guidance of the Honored Architect of Belarus Leonid Levin, with sculptor Alexander Shappo. Architects Galina Levin and Andrei Kopylov also participated in designing the updated memorial. The central element of the composition is a bronze sculpture of a woman, symbolizing all the mothers and widows who lost their loved ones in the war. The hunched figure of a woman sitting by the mass grave and clutching a soldier's pilotka represents profound grief and pain from the losses.
Next to her stands an obelisk inscribed with "24 Unknown Soldiers." This is a tribute to those whose names remain unknown to this day. Despite all efforts, many defenders of Minsk who fell in the bloody battles of June 1941 remain nameless. However, thanks to the search work of the Belarusian Eagle Battalion Museum, as well as the active participation of students and teachers from Secondary School No. 67 in Minsk, the names of some heroes have been established. The names of eleven soldiers are immortalized on granite slabs of the memorial: Atakhan Bekmurzaev, Vasily Bruzov, Vasily Gruzensky, Gennady Gundusov, Pyotr Kabanov, Ivan Kudlay, Ivan Popov, Ivan Semyenchukov, Prokopy Chaban, Alexander Chalkov, and Nikolai Chusov.
The history of the Memorial "Memory" is closely linked to the history of the village of Petroshchina itself, which became part of Minsk in 1978. During the war, villagers, risking their lives, secretly buried fallen Red Army soldiers wherever they could—by the road, in fields, on their own yards. After the victory, the bodies of the soldiers were exhumed and reburied in the mass grave across the road from the cemetery. Here they found their final resting place, becoming part of the great history of the struggle for freedom and independence.
The memorial on Dzerzhinsky Avenue, now known as "Memory," has become not just a place of mourning but a symbol of gratitude for the courage and self-sacrifice of those who fought for the Motherland. The tall stars soaring into the sky remind everyone who passes by of the price paid for a peaceful future.
