Miory Regional Executive Committee
The Belarusian people diligently preserve the memory of the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War, the heroism and courage of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, the human losses, and the price of the Great Victory.
Military-patriotic search detachments play a special role in preserving historical memory, with their primary task being the commemoration of fallen soldiers. Each relic recovered by search teams at former battlefields represents the fate and name of an individual who has been listed as missing in action for all these years.
The Museum of the History of Private Collecting in Vitebsk hosted the thematic exhibition "We Remain Faithful to This Memory." The initiative for the exhibition project was launched by Larisa Brueva, Chairperson of the Council for Interaction of Search Detachments of the Vitebsk Region "Poshuk". The exhibition features materials documenting the history of the search movement in the Vitebsk Region from 1984 to the present day.
The first search detachments and clubs emerged in the Vitebsk Region in the 1980s: "Iskatel" at Vocational School No. 96 and "Poisk" at Vocational School No. 19 in Vitebsk, "Razvedchiki Voinskoj Slavy" at Secondary School No. 2 in Novopolotsk, and "Rusichi" at Vocational School No. 110 in Orsha.
The first "Watches of Memory" and search expeditions in Belarus were conducted in the Dubrovna, Vitebsk, Lyozno, Shumilina, and Polotsk districts of the Vitebsk Region. Following the organization of the first regional search camp for educational institutions near Lake Losvido, search detachments began to form based on the councils of school museums dedicated to combat glory.
By April 1991, approximately 30 detachments operated within the Vitebsk Regional Association "Poshuk," which was registered under the All-Union Association of Search Organizations "People's Memory of Fallen Defenders of the Fatherland."
The proud traditions of the search movement in the Vitebsk Region are carried forward today by search teams from the "Razvedchiki Voinskoj Slavy" detachment in Novopolotsk, the "Gromovtsy" detachment under the State Educational Institution "Secondary School No. 40 of Vitebsk named after M.M. Gromov," and the "Aviapoisk" team in Borisov, all operating within the framework of the Belarusian-Russian program "Sky of the Motherland".
Thanks to the dedicated work of search teams in the Vitebsk Region over the past 35 years, the remains of more than 4,000 fallen defenders of the Fatherland have been recovered and given proper burial. The search detachments "Iskatel" and "RVS" have located the crash sites of eleven aircraft belonging to the 1st and 3rd Air Armies and Long-Range Aviation, recovered the remains of their crews, and identified and commemorated their names. Thanks to extensive archival research conducted over many years, numerous relatives of fallen soldiers have been able to identify and visit the resting places of their loved ones.
Actively cooperating with search teams and conducting extensive archival and memorial work are the People's Museum "History of the Zaronovsky Region" of the Vitebsk District, the People's Museum of Combat Glory of the 39th Army at the State Educational Institution "Gymnasium No. 5 of Vitebsk named after I.I. Lyudnikov", the People's Museum of Combat Glory of the 251st Vitebsk Rifle Division, the Historical Museum of the State Educational Institution "Vorona Secondary School of the Vitebsk District named after I.E. Beskhlebny", the People's Museum of the State Educational Institution "Secondary School No. 2 of Novopolotsk named after E.A. Trapеznikova", and the Historical and Local Lore Museum of the State Educational Institution "Matyushevskaya Basic School of the Polotsk District named after P.E. Kupriyanov".