Lyudmila Kozlova: "Just being together we can develop our states"

An international conference 'The Great Victory Anniversary: living memory through the generations', which was held in Baku, has been described by experts as an action on the transfer of historical memory. The senator from the Smolensk Region, the Deputy Chairwoman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, Lyudmila Kozlova, spoke to Vestnik Kavkaza the significance of such events.

- What is the significance of the Great Victory for today?

- This day plays a big role in the patriotic education of youth. Especially meetings with veterans, when they talk about how, all being the same age, they came to the defense of the Fatherland, achieved this victory with the price of their lives. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this. One such event is worth a million words and endless talking shops.

Twice I was in Baku at such events. The first event was a Memory Rally organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, and held by [Federation Council speaker] Valentina Matviyenko. The second event was this international conference. Both of these great events have shown that, especially in the conditions in which the Soviet Union collapsed and became a fragmented state, this was not Russia's victory, it was the victory of the Soviet Union, all of the 15 republics. We remember the help of the second front - the UK and the US. This is a common victory.

Only by being together, even though we live in different states (we will not return the Soviet Union), will we be able to develop our own states, supporting each other. Then we will be strong. We will be able to withstand external enemies, united, understanding each other. This victory showed this. Because we never would have won if we had been scattered.

- Is the historical memory of this event fading today?

- No, it is not. In Baku, I was struck by the amicable attitude to veterans. Man is alive while his memory is alive. We need to talk about it to our children and grandchildren. And it will keep the memory of the veterans alive.

The President of Azerbaijan, despite his busy schedule, annually finds time to meet with veterans on May 9. A large comfortable house has been built for veterans, with a hostel. Their living conditions are improved, they are provided with transportation, benefits are allocated. This ratio is not in words, but in deeds. This is also an educational moment. This is related to our historical past.

We are grateful to those people who defeated the Nazis. And our gratitude is the memory of them, and we must now take care of them while they are alive. All states must draw lessons from this, then understanding that we should be together will be even stronger.

- How can we transfer memory of the war to future generations?

- An action which was within the framework of the Memory Rally was planting trees, creating squares, parks, memorials to the heroes, to the memory of war veterans. Monuments, memorials, books about the war. Our artists have depicted the events. Plays are staged, films are made, they were somewhat naive, but we watched all of them. 'Only Old Ones Go to Fight', remember?

This should be inherited, and these things have to be taught to preschoolers already. This should be done. We need to come together, for example, in the form of international conferences, as it is now, or in the form of the Memory Rally, which a little earlier was held in Baku and is being held in the capitals of other states. This should be done annually. Time flows inexorably forward, and those who won this war are leaving us. There are those who fought in Afghanistan. They are also veterans. This does not apply directly to this great victory, but I mean the link between generations.