Paper ships bearing the names of WWII heroes, breathtaking stunts performed by Russian pilots and a tapestry made of veterans’ autographs – people across Russia participated in spectacular celebrations devoted to the 71st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in WWII.
Thousands of paper ships in Crimea
Children from the Crimean resort city of Feodosia have sent thousands of paper ships into the Black Sea bearing the names of those who gave their lives to secure victory in the war.
The ‘Paper Ship of Victory’ project was initiated by a schoolgirl from Feodosia, Katya Kimpinskaya.
“My great-grandfather is a Hero of the Soviet Union, he defended and liberated the cities of Crimea and Caucasus,” Katya told journalists, adding that she wants other children to tell the stories of their forefathers.
All in all, the children from Crimean schools have made over 50,000 paper ships.
Schoolchildren revive iconic Stalingrad fountain
Six schoolchildren in Russia’s southern city of Volgograd turned into live sculptures to revive the city’s iconic fountain that became a symbol of the Battle of Stalingrad – one of the deadliest in history.
A 1942 photo of the fountain, consisting of sculptures of six children dancing around a crocodile, with the burning city in the background became one of the most recognizable images of the war. Amid massive destruction, the fountain survived and stood only partly damaged by shell fragments.
Since then the fountain became the symbol of a devastated, but undefeated city.
Russian jets perform breathtaking stunts in Syktyvkar
The residents of the city of Syktyvkar in the west of the Ural Mountains had chance to see astonishing stunts performed by Aero L-39 Albatros jet trainer aircraft.
The aerobatic team Russ, the only jet group in Russia to perform displays on L-39 "Albatros" vehicles showed off their first-class maneuvers to the amazed public.
The jets presented their skills flying only 2 meters from each other, the organizers told TASS.
Tapestry with thousands of autographs of WWII heroes in Sochi
The southern city of Sochi, the host of 2014 Olympic Games, has presented a memorable tapestry with the autographs of more than 1,200 WWII heroes.
Since January this year, schoolchildren have been visiting veterans and their families, collecting information about the veterans, their names, number of the division where they served.
They wrote the data of the patches of the red cloth. Then the patches were sewed into a 25-meters-long and a 5-meters-wide tapestry dubbed “The Battalion of Victory.”
Defense of Brest Fortress battle restored in Ulyanovsk
The city of Ulyanovsk in southeastern Russia decided to theatrically reinstall one of the deadliest and fiercest battles of the Great Patriotic War – the defense of Brest Fortress.
The 10,000 defenders of Brest Fortress were encircled and cut off in the very beginning of Hitler’s June 1941 Blietzkrieg – but held out under heavy shelling for more than a week. The tragic fate and courageous resistance of the Soviet fortress in Belarus became legendary.
Ulyanovsk police, who had released the photos of the performance on their website, said that at least one of the Ulyanovsk citizens had taken part in the Brest Fortress Battle back in 1941.