Presidential Library took part in historical conference "Never to be forgotten!"

On 29 April 2025, Donetsk hosted the III Historical Conference "Never to be forgotten!" dedicated to the Victory Day of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. The Presidential Library took part in the event.

The conference, attended by specialists from cultural institutions, historians, local historians, teachers and students of secondary and higher educational institutions, was held at the N. K. Krupskaya Donetsk Republican Library in a face-to-face and remote format. K. Krupskaya Donetsk Republican Library in a face-to-face and remote format.

The aim of the event was to preserve the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War, to transfer knowledge about it to future generations, to form an objective and comprehensive understanding of this tragic and heroic period in the history of our people and to counter attempts to falsify history.

During the conference there were several sections: "Contribution of the Soviet people to the victory over fascism: front and rear", "The phenomenon of the writer-soldier: a unique view of the war" and "Results and lessons of the Great Patriotic War: historical significance and modernity".

The first section featured a video report by Artur Sakaev, Chief Bibliographer of the Bibliography and Cataloguing Department of the Presidential Library, on the topic "Siege drawings: from the electronic collection of the Presidential Library". The drawings of the siege period, which were discussed in the presentation, differ in their content, technique of execution and, of course, personalities of the authors. But all of them are united by one big common theme and confirm how important the role of art is not only in peacetime, but also in wartime - it can comfort, distract from heavy thoughts and give additional strength, breathe life, inspire faith in the future. During the hardest days of the siege, it was art that allowed people to remain human, and often simply to survive and preserve the memory of the Great Patriotic War.

Yulia Selivanova, Director of the Library Interaction Department of the Presidential Library, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, gave a video report at the section "The Phenomenon of the Writer-Soldier: a Unique View of the War". She told about the joint project of the Presidential Library and the Eurasia Library Assembly "Poems of Victory". The idea of its creation was proposed by the Presidential Library in September 2023 at the XXVII General Meeting of BAE members in Minsk.

The main goal of the project is to create a media resource including poems by the poets of the USSR to preserve the memory and share the history through the lines of the works of national poets. The project leaders are Yuri Nosov, Director General of the Presidential Library, and Vadim Gigin, Director General of the National Library of Belarus. The media resource includes video clips of poems by national poets in the national languages of the former Soviet republics with Russian subtitles. The reciters are staff members of the libraries participating in the project, as well as invited professional performers, announcers and journalists. The poems are accompanied by visuals composed of portraits of participants of the Great Patriotic War of different nationalities and photographs of memorable places. The media resource is currently being finalised.