Description of the attraction
On April 30, 2011 in the city of Monchegorsk the opening of a unique museum "Children of the Great Patriotic War" took place. It is difficult to find such museums all over Russia. The opening took place after a large-scale restoration, as a result of which the museum areas were significantly expanded, major repairs were carried out inside the building, and completely new exhibits appeared. This long-awaited event became possible only with the financial assistance of the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Private Company.
The idea of creating such an unusual museum belongs to the teacher of additional education at school №12 - Batrakova Larisa. For this woman, the topic of the war, as well as for the largest number of Russians, became personal, because her father went through the entire war and ended it in Berlin, her mother was deported to Germany, and Batrakova's husband, as a child, survived all the hardships and hardships of the Great Patriotic War. It was her husband's stories that prompted her to pay close attention to this topic. Everyone knows that every year fewer and fewer veterans survive, and it is the children of the war that are the very generation that is obliged to convey to the young and young people the whole bitter truth about the difficult time that our compatriots had to endure.
In 2000, young people from a public organization called Renaissance, headed by Larisa Batrakova, initiated the collection of materials about Monchegors participating in the Great Patriotic War. The work turned out to be extremely necessary and grateful for all participants in the process: young people learned about how the history of Russia can be reflected in one family, and it became very important for veterans that they are still remembered and their experience can be useful to someone. Thus, the “Bridge of Generations” project was successfully completed.
The second, but no less important project of the Renaissance was the direct creation of the museum, which was opened in December 2004 (then the museum occupied only a small room in one of the clubs called Sputnik). Through the joint efforts of the children, as well as their older comrades, they managed to find a considerable number of documents for the museum exposition, as well as items not only from the military, but also from the post-war years - it was thanks to this that a reliable and unusually sincere atmosphere of that distant time was created.
Today, it will be much easier for visitors to the Children of War Museum to immerse themselves in the times of the war and post-war years. For the most part, the renovated museum has not only expanded its square, but also replenished its unique expositions with rare rare exhibits, which were purchased at online auctions after a long time of searching. This kind of objects includes scales on which during the war rations consisting of bread were weighed; a loudspeaker, from an oval black plate of which the unforgettable words were once heard: “This is Moscow speaking. We are transmitting the latest summary of the Sovinformburo … . It is worth noting that the voice of the famous Levitan can be heard even today in the museum, because absolutely every excursion begins with his speech about the treacherous offensive of Nazi Germany on the USSR.
Particularly touching and, in its own way, unusual is the exposition of women's dresses related to difficult years for Russia, which now serve as a symbol of both sadness and happiness. The beautiful showcases display unpretentious jewelry of those difficult years: cufflinks, rings, brooches. Particularly important inhabitants of almost every house were small porcelain white elephants, also presented in the section of this exhibition.
The significantly renewed Museum "Children of War" is an incredible enthusiasm, initiative and a considerable amount of time and material component of the organizer Larisa Batrakova. At the moment, it is planned to create a Center for Patriotic and Civic Education on the basis of the museum.
