Symbol of peace and irredeemable debt

Author: Gasanguseyn Abdulzhelilov  Dagestan is a multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-ethnic region, where more than 30 nationalities live side by side. The Rutulsky border area of the Republic is called “Dagestan in miniature”  and is a fort outpost of southern Russia, the gateway to the East. Here in the harsh mountain conditions, despite the vagaries of nature, one family of six indigenous peoples  has lived for centuries : Rutuls, Tsakhurs, Avars, Lezgins, Azerbaijanis, Laks and a seventh fraternal Russian people, whose sons are stationed in the border detachments guarding  115 km of the southern borders of Greater Russia. Each nation has its own distinctive unique culture, customs, traditions, language features, life. But there is something in common, special, intimate, that at all time warms the soul, inspires and unites hearts - it is human memory. It is imperishable, timeless. We are proud of the achievements of our forefathers and mothers, when people of different nationalities in the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War rose to defend the homeland together with the Russian people, who by their heroism inspired the people in the holy war against fascism, smashed the Nazi invaders, defended the honor, freedom and independence of the homeland, liberated Europe from Nazism. In these events, shoulder to shoulder, not sparing their lives, warriors from Dagestan fought heroically. In Dagestan, there was almost no family from which men were not sent to the front to defend the independence of the Motherland. Our republic is proud of their heroes who demonstrated the courage and desire to win. Tens of thousands of Dagestanis were awarded orders and medals, and 58 people have earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, seven people were full gentlemen of the Order of Glory of three. In the terrible days of 1941, without waiting for the call, many residents of the Rutul area volunteered to go the front - 3200. 1200 families never received thereturn of their soldiers, far from their mountains they lie in unmarked mass graves. About 90,000 soldiers  from Dagestan were killed at the front, with their blood, they sealed the bond of friendship with the fraternal peoples of our countries, and especially with the Russian people, which bore the brunt of the war. Memory is sacred... It is embodied in bronze, sung in verse about the heroism of the Soviet-Russian soldier. In different parts of Russia there are monuments to women who did not see their sons return from the front.  Recently, in the mountainous border region of Kich in  the Rutul  district the first stone of a monument to the mothers "Mother and Child. Symbol of peace and debt”  was laid. The victory of our people in the Great Patriotic War  owned a lot to Russian mothers, who showed at that time unparalleled durability and labor heroism. More than 800 thousand women served in the army during the war, including about 2,000 women from Dagestan. 830 girls form the mountains become communicators, machine gunners, snipers. In 1944, 10,000 women in Dagestan worked in management of collective farming  and another 18 thousand in industry . But their help to the army was not only in the hard work in the factories and collective farms but also in the collection of warm clothes and gifts for the front-line fighters, money and valuables in the homeland defense fund. Dagestani women knitted over a million pairs of socks and gloves (in the Rutulsky district alone about 30 thousand pairs were prepared).Dagestani women donated their family silver and gold jewellery  to the defense fund - 250 kg of gold, silver and other precious items, more than 750 tons of ferrous metal. The girls of Ahtynsky district in Dagestan started raising money for the fund for children of the defenders of the homeland. 38 new orphanages were opened, 10 million rubles collected, hundreds of tons of grain, potatoes, vegetables, dozens of tons of meat and wool, more than 3 million head of cattle, and many other things to the families of the killed soldiers. Showing mass patriotism during the war, Dagestanis collected 350 million rubles for the fund for the construction of the country's defense tanks and planes. Built at their own expense, three heavy armored trains sent to the front 250 wagons of warm clothes, 140 cars with gifts for soldiers and officers. It was a clear manifestation of the true unity of the army and the people. In the first months of the war, when Dagestan was still deep in the rear, there was a network of hospitals with mostly female personnel. In 1942, the hospital network of the DASSR had about 15 thousand beds. Health workers used the hospital wards for days, fought for the life of every soldier, donated blood for transfusion, for the recovery and return of soldiers to the duty. Of the 134,901 injured receiving treatment in the evacuation hospital in Dagestan from June 1941 to July 1945, 103,398 people, or 75.9% returned to duty. Women and adolescents worked in the shops instead of those who went to the front. They played an invaluable role in agricultural production. In the Rutulsky district alone in 1944 35 women worked in the party and 20 in Kulinsky. When the Nazi army reached the Caucasus in 1942, thousands of women took to the construction of defensive lines. In severe weather conditions and mountainous terrain, keeping the huge difficulties and hardships, these women strengthened each line and transformed Dagestan into animpregnable fortress. Dagestani women together with their Russian sisters were fighting at the front and with the partisans. Hundreds of Dagestani women received government awards. Orders and medals were awarded to 12,852 women, diplomas of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet DASSR to 1271 women, 33 were given honorary titles. Medals "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" and "For Defence of the Caucasus" were awarded to 54,600 women in Dagestan.The monument under construction in Kich is a sign of gratitude to all the Russian mothers whose sons did not return from the war. Great was the grief! But even after the war, the mothers believed: "They're coming!". This monument is also to those who worked hard behind the front line. It is dedicated to all those who did not spare themselves in the rear, in hospitals, in the factories and fields. It is a monument to all Russian mothers, a forged common victory. This monument is an image of motherhood, love, and endurance. It is a monument to those who did not allow the enemy on their holy land, to the mothers, who brought up those defenders. This is a monument to the most important woman in the world! The world is ruled by the Hand That Rocks the Cradle ... For the 60th anniversary of the Victory - May 9, 2005 - a monument was unveiled in the village of Kich (Gasanguseyn Abdulzhelilov was the author and initiator of the project). It was built by representatives of many nationalities in Dagestan, devoted to the defender-fathers of the Fatherland. "White Cranes",  based on the famous poem Rasul Gamzatov, with two guns on each side. According to the project, the monument "Mother and Child"  is a continuation of the construction of the memorial of "Military and Labor Glory" in Kich. It is a six-meter track composition that includes a spring - the source of life - in the form of a triumphal arch (like the one on Kutuzov Avenue in Moscow), which is crowned with the sculpture "Mother and Child" with a halo of 14 rays of the sun, symbolizing the 14 constitutional fraternal peoples of Dagestan. This is an eternal symbol of the mother-to-child love and gratitude to mothers, homemakers, who bring up the defenders of the county. Gasanguseyn Abdulzhelilov was also the author and initiator of the project. On both sides of the memorial it is planned to install plaques engraved with the names of mother-heroines with more than 10 children and their Russian sisters, teachers, who came in difficult years to the remote mountainous Rutulsky district to teach mountain guys and left an indelible memory. The monument should be unveiled on the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The inhabitanats of the neighboring villages help in the construction of the monument and the improvement of the surrounding area. Construction of the monument has acquired a truly national character. The memorial "Military and Labor Glory" in Kich, with the already-built monument "White Cranes" and the building "Mother and Child" will be a unique architectural ensemble and will be a great rallying point for people of all nationalities.