Gala concert "The Courage to Remember" in memory of the Great Victory held in Vienna

The theatrical gala concert “The Courage to Remember” in the framework of the international cultural and educational project “Victory Marathon” was held on March 25, 2019 at the Russian Center of Science and Culture (RCSC) in Vienna.

According to director of the RCSC Dmitry Sokolov, the concert will contribute to the maintenance of the memory of the feat of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, which is especially important in the Year of youth exchanges Russia - Austria. The program of the international cultural and educational “Victory Marathon” is intended to remind of the brotherhood in arms that connected Soviet soldiers and their allies from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition during World War II, as well as the numerous victims of Nazism.

“I am sure that such events are necessary to preserve the memory of the Great Victory, for which the multinational Soviet people had to pay the highest price - 27 million of lives”, - says the message of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky, read by Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Austria Oleg Markov.

The program of the concert included not only Soviet military songs, but also poems and music from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, which were accompanied by footage of documentary chronicles of the war years and fragments of famous war films.

The visuals of the concert also included footage of the flash mob with the song “May Waltz”, which was held in 2016 on Graben Street in the center of Vienna. The video of the event, organized by Russian compatriots in Austria, collected over a million views on the Internet.

"For us, cultural workers, it is important to talk about the unity of nations in the fight against Nazism in the language of music, poetry, film, because this language binds people in addition to political differences", - said the artistic director of the project, Honored Artist of Russia Irina Goryunova.

The cultural and educational project “Victory Marathon” has been organized by the international foundation for the support of Russian culture “Unity” with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo. Artists have already performed in Berlin and Prague. March 27, 2019 a concert is scheduled at the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Budapest.

The Presidential Library’s portal provides access to the collection “Memory of the Great Victory”, which includes official documents, photo and newsreels, wartime newspapers, books, propaganda publications, collections of articles, biographies, testimonies of combatants and workers of the rear, their personal documents, images of military and labor awards, monuments and memorial complexes.

Based on materials of http://rs.gov.ru.