On May 6, Saratov State University and Saratov State Medical University held a meeting dedicated to the 77th anniversary of Victory Day. Veterans, teaching staff members, and students of two universities gathered at the Memorial to SSU and SSMU employees and students who died in the battles of the Great Patriotic War.

The solemn meeting was opened by SSMU Rector Andrei Yeryomin. ‘Today we are on the eve of the most important holiday of our state – Great Victory Day. I would like to say sincere words of gratitude to the veterans, soldiers who gave us freedom and independence 77 years ago. Surely, our soldiers will be able to repeat the feat of their compatriots and there will no longer be a place for fascism and neo-Nazism on earth.’

Andrei Yeryomin appealed to the youth to remember and honour the great past of the country, not to allow its history to be rewritten, and to distort the real course of events.

SSU Rector Aleksei Chumachenko spoke about a recent conversation with the leadership of Luhansk Pedagogical University. Rector Zhanna Marfina shared the latest news of the university. According to her, the situation there is complicated by the fact that many students and teachers are at the front. ‘But we will endure, the main thing is that victory comes,’ the rector of SSU conveyed the words of his colleague.

‘Our employees and students had the same thoughts on June 22, 1941. The day after the start of the Great Patriotic War, a university-wide meeting was held in Building III, and the registration of volunteers began. In the first months of the war, more than 600 students and teaching staff members went to the front. Many received orders and medals, but not all returned home. In 1970 we opened this monument. There were originally 86 names on the granite slab, now there are 150 of them. We need to restore all the names so that the memory of the great feat of our soldiers remains forever,’ Aleksei Chumachenko said.

A member of the Presidium of the SSU Council of Veterans Seraphima Lapina shared her memories about her childhood during the war. ‘I belong to the generation of the children of the war, I just finished the first grade then. Everything that happened, remained in the memory, sometimes to the smallest detail. This is the voice of Levitan, who transmitted reports from the fronts, and the piercing words of Lebedev-Kumach’s song – Stand up, great country, and crowds of refugees from Leningrad, Smolensk, and Pskov regions, and news from home that strengthened and supported the morale of the soldiers.’

The courage of the Russian people during the war years was emphasised by the combat veteran, Chair of the Department of Mobilisation Training of Healthcare and Emergency Medicine, SSMU, Associate Professor Sergei Sidelnikov. ‘Today, our state faces new and new challenges, and more than one generation has been giving birth to its heroes. 77 years have passed since the last cannon salvos thundered, but the memory of the people preserves the heroism, steadfastness, and courage of our soldiers and officers, their highest dedication, and the courage of home front workers.’

Yulia Ilyashenko, an activist of the SSU Council of Undergraduates and Postgraduates, a student of the Faculty of Sociology, greeted the participants of the meeting on behalf of the student youth of SSU. ‘77 years separate us from those in whose honour this monument was opened. And today, passing by the monument, we feel pride, because, as they once were, we are also part of the university. During the war years, SSU sent only nurses and conscripts to the front, its employees built the defence of the city, and the university itself, in spite of everything, remained a temple of science.’

Nikita Yelagin, a student of the SSMU, spoke about the Volunteers of Victory movement. ‘We, the younger generation, are proud of the feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Every year the number of volunteers of our patriotic movement is growing, and we are glad that more and more young people understand how important it is to preserve the memory of the resilience and courage of our people.’

After a minute of silence, the meeting participants laid flowers at the memorial. The programme of the traditional event was continued by a concert prepared by the SSU Student Club and SSMU singers and dancers.

After that, a friendly football match between athletes from two universities was held on campus.