On June 22 Russia commemorates the Day of Memory and Grief, when in 1941 Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Some 27 million Soviet people perished during the war.
State flags are lowered on this day. All entertainment programs on TV and radio are cancelled.
People have been lighting candles in the evening on June 21 and at four o'clock in the morning on June 22 since 2009. Also Russian cities hosted special events to honor the memory of those who passed away. Thus, the first all-Russian action of the charitable foundation 'Memory of Generations', which was created in June on the initiative of public organizations and veterans' organizations and the Hero of Soviet Union, the first woman cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, was launched today.
"Thousands of Russian citizens will take part in the campaign of assistance to veterans of the Great Patriotic War and other wars during the campaign of the charity foundation 'Memory of Generations'," the organizers said.
The director of the International Institute of the Newest States, Andrei Marchukov, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the date June 22nd is a quiet memory date because "it is a sad day, when the most terrifying war began in our country." "Of course, we shouldn't mark it on a grand scale. It is necessary that both the media and public authorities and people just remember this date and realized that a terrifying four years began starting from this date," he said.
