Miory Regional Executive Committee
For five years, the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow has been implementing the "School Museum of Victory" program. The museum oversees 2,000 school museums across Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Three museums from the Vitebsk region have made it into its staff-compiled ranking "Top-100. School Museum of Victory". Leading the list is also the museum at the Voronovo Secondary School named after I. E. Beskhlebnyy in the Vitebsk district.
Living History
The school museum in the agrotown of Vorony is not merely a repository of exhibits. It is a living organism where life abounds: guided tours and research are conducted, information about the native region and fellow townspeople is gathered bit by bit, and students bring in rusty items found in the area (what if they are valuable historical artifacts?).
— The museum was the brainchild of chemistry and geography teacher Alexandra Yakovlevna Terentyeva. In 1962, a museum corner with the first exhibits appeared in the school. When we were still young, we would run there, engage in activities, and recite poems about fallen soldiers at memorial rallies, — recalls Irina Krotova, who took over the museum from Terentyeva and today heads both the museum and the "Patriot" interest group.
The exposition was initially based on military-themed materials. Over time, the museum of military glory moved to a separate building. When Irina Igorevna took charge, she decided to expand the scope:
— We tailored the museum to our local homeland, adding what happened on this land.
An exposition dedicated to the War of 1812 appeared, along with information on local military internationalists, outstanding school graduates, and a hall titled "Daily Life of the Belarusian People". A separate corner preserves the memory of the museum's founder, Alexandra Terentyeva. A total of 2,500 exhibits have been collected.
Heroes and Letters to Eternity
The largest exhibition of the school museum is dedicated to the heroic feat of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War.
— The war came to us in late June – early July 1941. Fierce battles were taking place. The 14th Tank Division defended this territory, — Irina Igorevna recounts. — A battalion under the command of Nikolai Chepurny drove the enemy out of the village of Vorony and nearby settlements. The battalion commander, wounded three times, did not leave the battlefield. For exemplary fulfillment of combat assignments, courage and heroism, on August 31, 1941, the senior lieutenant was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Graphic works by Vitaliy Rogal, a Russian front-line artist, are housed in the museum. He fought not far from Vorony, at elevation 222.9, where during intervals between battles he made sketches and painted portraits of fellow soldiers. In 1967, the artist visited the museum, lived to be 89 years old, and became a People's Artist of the RSFSR.
On March 1, 1944, Anatoly Kopysov, a native of the Russian city of Kirov, was killed in Vorony. His mother wrote and sent letters to him until the end of her days, addressing them to her living son even though he had fallen. Here is one of them: “Dear son Anatoly! Spring has come again, but you are not home. You are still in Belarus. Your new homeland surrounds you with care... Thank you all who surround and guard your resting place. Mother. I always miss you.” And written on the side: “Place this on Anatoly’s grave.”
“Proud of the surname!”
The school in Voronah bears the name of Lieutenant Ivan Efimovich Beskhllebnogo. Under his command, soldiers of the 4th Company of the 158th Rifle Division of the 39th Army held an unnamed hill nearby for more than 12 hours on December 26, 1943. They repeated the feat of the Panfilov heroes, with the distinction that there were 28 of them, whereas this contingent numbered 27. The fighters who fell in December 1943, including Ivan Beskhllebnogo, were buried at the site of their heroic stand.
Since 1968, the school’s pioneer organization has been named after the 27 heroes of the Vitebsk Panfilovites. When the question arose regarding which name to bestow upon the school, it was decided that it should be their commander, Ivan Beskhllebnogo. However, consent from his relatives was required, Irina Krotova noted. An extraordinary story is linked to this circumstance.
Ivan fell at the age of 24 and did not have time to start a family. Scouts from Voronah located an essay by Gleb Beskhllebnogo on social media, in which the boy wrote that he proudly bore his grandfather’s surname, noting that his grandfather had fought near Vitebsk on an unnamed hill. It turned out that he was the great-nephew of the commander who had fallen there.
In the spring of last year, the International Memorial Watch “Pogostino-43” was held at the site of the feat performed by the 27 Vitebsk Panfilovites. Search teams from Belarus and Russia, assisted by students from Voronah Secondary School, recovered the remains of 127 fighters. It is believed that Ivan Beskhllebnogo was among them. The young man who had written the essay traveled from the Novosibirsk Region to pay his respects to his great-grandfather’s remains.