Hall 5. «Recognition»
The recognition of the Brest Fortress defenders’ heroic deed came in the 50s years of the 20th century, when the soviet writer and journalist Sergey Smirnov (1915 - 1976) started looking for the living fortress defenders, record their memories and work on the book “The Brest Fortress”.
After the release of the book in 1964, the whole country found out about the defenders’ act of bravery. A lot of them have been awarded with high rewards. Two of them received the title of the “Soviet Union Hero”, P. Gavrilov (1957) and A. Kizhevatov (post mortem, 1965). The exhibits in the showcase in the left half of the hall reveal the role of the writer S. Smirnov in the fortress defenders’ heroic deed recognition and rehabilitation of those who went through captivity. The following documents are presented: first notebooks of S. Smirnov with the names of the defense participants (1954 - 1962), correspondence, book about the Brest Fotress (“Looking for the Brest Fortress heroes”, 1957; “The Brest Fortress”, 1957). In 1957, the Brest Fortress defenders that went through captivity received notifications from local military recruitment offices that they are entitled with orders and medals. There are some well-known decrees of the USSR Supreme Council about the fortress defenders’ rewarding (1957, 1958, 1965). Some of those rewards are presented here: Patriotic War Orders of the 1st and 2nd degree that belonged to S. Skripnik, A. Chuvikov, V. Vasin, P. Voytenko, V. Nikiforov; Red Banner Orders from R. Abakumova and A. Romanov. More than 250 fortress defenders have been awarded with rewards.
The main exhibit here is the diptych called “Memory. The Brest Fortress” (1984) that was made by the Leningrad artist V. Chebotar. This composition is displayed on both Hall sides. In 1985, V. Chebotar was awarded with a golden medal from the USSR Academy of Fine Art for the creation of his diptych. The left part is called “Group portrait of the Brest Fortress defenders”. The author depicted the meeting of the defense participants after the war. The following people feature in the picture: Y. Kotolupenko, F. Zhuravlyov, I. Shumeyko, V. Kalvin, I. Dolotov, A. Romanov and the others (15 people total, where 11 of them are former captives). Meeting after many years of separation, they do not recognize each other. And only after overcoming the postwar time that separates them, the real greeting takes places, which was depicted in the 2nd part of the picture, which is called “Memory”.
After the end of war, the survived fortress defense participants came back to the peaceful originative labor. Contribution to the national economy recovery, development of science, education and culture are the evidence of the aspiration to serve its country. The labor rewards in the showcase on the right prove that point: the medal “Socialistic Labor Hero” from S. Matevosyan, the order of the Labor Red Banner from I. Kolesnikov and A. Chuvikov, the medal “For the development of the virgin lands” from V. Chernichenko and other rewards. Here you can also find a thesis abstract for a scientific degree belonging to a medical science doctor Y. Petrov; scientific works of the biological science doctor V. Fursov; works of the pedagogic science candidate A. Ispolatov and the others. The defense participants hastened to do as much as possible for their country, for themselves and for those, who stayed in the Brest Fortress forever.
On both sides of the hall you can find the sound domes that allow to hear the memories of the commanders and soldiers, women and children about the last peaceful day, about the beginning of the war, battles for the fortress, about captivity.
