Moscow is hosting a joint expert and media event devoted to the final of the Best History Lesson Contest “The Great Patriotic War: Lessons of the War and the History of the Common Victory.” The contest is devoted to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. It was held in two stages from February 24th to July 17th. Its aim was to support new formats of holding history lessons, which would encourage raising patriotic feelings of students, finding common historic roots of the Russian and Belarusian peoples. Any teacher of history (no older than 28) could participate in it. Young teachers could choose one of five topics for development of a presentation and a scenario of a multimedia school history lesson about the Great Patriotic War.
“This is the second time that we are holding the contest,” Grigory Rapota, State Secretary of the Union State, said. "Such contests are important for the development of history in general and for the education of the younger generation. Last year the subject of it was the First World War. This year it was no accident that we chose the theme of the Great Patriotic War. All our activities, especially in the area of social, youth policy and other projects, naturally come under the banner of this event. And this is natural, because interest in this topic is not fading. The main goal, maybe, is an understanding of the historical truth, and the second goal is to pay the debt of our descendants to the people, to our ancestors, who carried the heaviness of the Great Patriotic War on their shoulders.”
According to Rapota, “every aspect of human life is history. That is why the importance of this subject is undeniable, simply for the formation, and for the formation of a personality that is interesting and useful for society. And the role of teachers, I think, is to give the widest possible range of knowledge about a particular historical event, to instill the ability to think independently in students. Then a creative personality is being developed, and a creative personality is the engine of progress of any country. That is why what our teachers of history are doing is very noble, a very necessary thing for society. We attract public representatives and journalists to this topic, and carry out these kinds of competitions. I hope that we will conduct them in the future.”
He expressed gratitude to the History Department of MSU for holding the contest at a high professional level.
Sergei Karpov, Dean of the History Faculty of Moscow State University, expressed his view that “without teachers who will correctly interpret this history there will be nothing: “The role of a teacher in verification of knowledge, not only in translation, is very high. Because a teacher should choose the material, he should present it easily and interestingly. And she should put her identity into it.”
Speaking about historical memory, Karpov noted that it has very deep and ancient roots: “Recently we marked the anniversary of Saint Duke Vladimir Day, his death a thousand years ago, and we should understand that this is our common source of three great Slavic nations. And to pull out one of these components and say "this is ours, and this is yours" is absolutely fruitless. We must understand our unity with respect for each other. We have great respect for national traditions and language. In the Department of History of the 'near abroad', we pay great attention to the study of languages, the study of the Belarusian language in particular, which is one of our priorities. Because to understand the soul of a nation, to understand its historical development, without understanding its language, the depth of the language, is impossible. Just as the Russian language unites many countries which were part of Soviet Union, which were not only a part of Soviet Union, but a part of the whole of Europe, are very important. For both Bulgaria and Serbia, and for many other countries, and for foreign countries, all of this is very important.”
Vladimir Churov views the problem from the point of view of the Chairman of the Russian Central Electoral Commission: “If 70 years ago we did not win the Great Patriotic War, now we would not choose the president of a sovereign state in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, or in some other former part of the Soviet Union. We would choose a German monitor. And that's what we must remember and understand, that choice is a civil responsibility. Responsibility to the past generations, to the memory of past generations, and responsibility to our future.”
Churov spoke about details of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Belarus, which has been the center of battles in so many wars: “This is a part of Europe which has been plentifully watered by the blood of people of different nationalities. The head of Belarus during the war and after the war Panteleimon Kondratievich Ponamorenko, as you know, not only led the guerrilla movement throughout the Soviet Union, but was also a fan and patron of modern jazz. And when the Germans occupied Poland, it was Panteleimon Kondratievich Ponamorenko who hospitably accepted to his own land the best jazz orchestra in Europe at the time under Eddie Rosner. They played in Moscow in 1946. Unfortunately, after this concert, Eddie Rosner, inspired by the success, crossed the border to Poland, was detained and arrested, and together with his wife for sometime he played in the orchestra in far north. But in 1954, fortunately, he returned to Moscow and Belarus, and continued his concert activity. Once again I want to say that, first of all, he is remembered by many for his performances, his orchestra, on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Maybe such an episode adds a little nuance to the colourful picture of what we are celebrating and what happened 70 years ago.”
