Hall 8. «The roads of memory»
The memory of the Great Patriotic War events, and of the people whose fates are connected with the Brest Fortress heroic past, is still alive in today’s generations. There is a panoramic projection screen in the center of the hall, which time after time displays film fragments and a static picture “Curse to the war” made by M. Ananyin (1961). It also has a second name, “It should not happen again”. At the same time you can hear a musical composition called “Epitaph”, made by the honored Russian Federation artist born in Brest, composer I. Kornelyuk.
Films and their fragments are divided by 4 sections:
Prewar life of the fortress garrison.
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the battles in Brest-Litovsk fortress.
The memories of the writers S. Smirnov and K. Simonov, and the living Brest fortress defenders
The most important Brest fortress events, meeting with defenders, the opening of the “Brest Hero Fortress” memorial complex, and the events that take place in the fortress nowadays.
The following feature films and documentaries fragments are being showed:
“Immortal garrison” (1956)
“The battle for Moscow” (1985)
“Wochenschau”. Documentary newsreel (Germany, 1941)
“The Brest Fortress” (2010)
“I am the soldier of the Brest Fortress” (1980)
“The Eastern Front-line” (1989)
“Let it be May forever” (1986)
“Glory to the heroes” (1984)
“Meeting the Brest heroes” (1961)
“The opening of the Brest Fortress memorial” (1971)
“The fortress above Bug” (2011)
“Brest Hero Fortress” (2011)
Below that are standing the capsules with the ground from the hero-cities, cities of military glory, places of battles during Great Patriotic and the other wars. Those capsules come from different countries and different historical places, amounting up to 100 units. In front of the screen you can see the projected Book of Memory that contains the names of the fortress defenders sorted by the following blocks: the ones who died in the fortress, the ones who died on the front-lines of the Great Patriotic War, the ones who died in captivity, the ones who went missing, and the ones who stayed alive. Totally there are around 1209 names.
On the left side, on the windows there are the pictures of the fallen Brest Fortress defenders, whose names are perpetuated on the stone slabs on the memorial, but whose photos are not showcased in the museum of the Brest Fortress defense (34 people). Between the pictures in the glass case you can see tunic, cap, shoulder-belt, holster and belt from A. Merzlikin, the one who played the role of the lieutenant A. Kizhevatov in the patriotic drama film “The Brest Fortress” (2010).
On the right side on the window there is a picture “In memory of the meeting…Brest Fortress, 24.06.1961”, which contains the Brest fortress defenders during their first big meeting in 20 years after the beginning of the war. The exposition “The Family Album. The Memories of the fathers” is displayed on 5 video displays of the inner wall. The exposition is displayed in Russian and English languages. The outside display shows a video about OJSC “Gazprom”, the sponsor of the creation of the “War Museum – Peace Territory” exposition in the South-East casern of the citadel.
Right from the screen there is a touch information booth, which has an Internet connection to the search engine “OBD – memorial” and the website of the Brest Fortress. Nowadays the Brest Fortress is not only a symbol of tragedy and selfless heroic resistance in the most terrifying war of the 20th century, but also an example of respect to historical and spiritual values of humanity. This is the land of battles and losses, memory and mourning, pride and greatness, hope and peace.
