The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky spoke with representatives of the mass media after the funeral and memorial ceremony at the Tiraspol Memorial of Glory. The President was asked what today's event meanе to him personally, mentioning the statement that this event connected the past, present and future. Vadim Krasnoselsky's answer: "I am absolutely convinced that there is no future, there is no present without the past. That victory, that tragedy called the Great Patriotic War, the Second World War – it left a mark on every family. Every family of the Soviet Union has its heroes, those who came from the front, those who did not come from the front, those who went missing. The topic of missing persons is very complex. I have already said that it has not really been properly studied until recently. No one can say exactly how many there are: hundreds of thousands, maybe millions – those who have gone missing. An absolutely simple, cold phrase “missing in action”. Not a funeral notice. This is the soldier who did not retreat in fact, who remained on the battlefield, who was torn to pieces and cannot be found, who was in a pillbox, who burned in an airplane and fell in an unknown place, burned in a tank. They are here – the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, who liberated our Motherland and brought Victory Day closer. It's a pity that they did not celebrate May 9, as befits a Liberator Soldier, it's a pity that they did not return to their families, relatives and friends, mothers and fathers, but such was life. Search teams on the territory of the Russian Federation, as far as I know, raise tens of thousands of these nameless, unknown people, whose identities every year, unfortunately, cannot be established.
As for today's reburial, this soldier was found near the village of Parkany. He died in April 1944 Apparently, possibly while crossing the Dniester River. Local residents buried him, the grave was lost, and now searchers have found it. Today we pay tribute with all the honors, rituals, as is proper, to that soldier. This is the past. How can we forget it, cross it out? I do not understand people who say that we must live in the present, not remembering yesterday. Of course, we should not live in the past, but we must remember and, remembering our history, shape the right future. It is precisely those who say that we must not remember history who are trying to rehabilitate fascism and Nazism, rewrite new heroes in textbooks, and accuse real heroes of being occupiers and punishers. This is really scary. This is a very subtle strategy of those who want to take revenge for the defeat in the Great Patriotic War, the Second World War.
The memory of the entire Pridnestrovian people will not allow this to happen. I think that this is not the last reburial event. Search teams are working, history is being studied. Soon we will open our museum, including the Great Patriotic War Museum, where heroes of past times, generations of victors will also be presented. Work will be continued in this part".
The PMR President was asked whether there is hope that those whose attitude to history differs from the Pridnestrovian one will ever come to their senses. The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky, "The question is difficult. The people must make decisions. There is a certain pattern. It may not be visible at first glance. The troubles that the peoples have faced. These are real troubles, war is always bad. You know my position: I am against war, I am always for the negotiation process, for peace, for creation, for beauty. Problems began as the deviation from our history, our roots began. It may seem that they are not connected with each other, but it is so subtle that it may not be visible at first glance. In fact it is. Forgetting your ancestors is simply dangerous. History can boomerang upon you in such a way that you will pay doubly for your sin. It is a sin to forget your ancestors, to forget the feat of your ancestors. Of course, the people make their own choices. I do not want to dictate to my neighbors how to behave. Big politicians, with figuratively speaking big shoulder straps, with a big position, unfortunately, like all people, are subject not only to the positive, but also to the negative. The feeling of personal exclusivity probably leads to a problem. In my opinion, we need to come down to earth, step back a little, remember what was, bow to the ground to our ancestors, thank the Soviet people for the victory that they achieved in simply unimaginable conditions, and maybe this will change something in the end. There will be no forgiveness, without forgiveness there will be no future without repentance. I am deeply convinced of this. The Pridnestrovian people have a good future because we remember our past, we remember all our victories and all our tragedies, we bow and thank our ancestors for our present day".
Answering a question about the work being done in Pridnestrovie to preserve history, Vadim Krasnoselsky noted, that "There are state programs. There are proactive people. There is a president with his team. I cannot say that someone is working separately in Pridnestrovie. Everyone is working here. The president is working, the government is working, the heads of administrations are working, search teams are working, people are working. There is a movement called "The Heirs of Victories". Please note: not "Victory", but "Victories." Because we are the heirs of all the victories of Russian weapons: under Catherine the Great, and under Peter the Great, and in the First World War, and in the Great Patriotic War. "The Heirs of Victories" movement is engaged in searching for burial sites. Fortunately, archives are being opened in the Russian Federation, the secrecy label is being lifted, and we have the opportunity to establish names by finding unmarked graves that remained on the battlefield. Three offensive operations were carried out as far as Pridnestrovie is concerned. Naturally, they were associated with their own history, and with their heroes, and with their victims. You will see memorial complexes in every village, if you go to every village. They are all well-kept, they are all restored. There are names and surnames of fellow villagers who did not return from the front carved in granite in addition to the names of those who died during the liberation of these settlements. We opened an additional memorial this year on April 12, on the Day of Liberation of the City of Tiraspol, and carved in granite the names of all the Tiraspol residents who did not return from the front, who are buried in an unknown place – either on the territory of the former Soviet Union, or on the territory of Europe, or maybe not buried at all, who knows in fact. He left and did not return. His name appeared on granite here, in Tiraspol today. Naturally, this will remain forever both in the history of our city and in the history of our state – the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic".
Is it difficult to maintain the vector of preserving memory, Vadim Krasnoselsky was asked. “I cannot say that it is difficult. This is everyone’s work. Each person must fight fascism and Nazism every day: lay flowers, gather to remember their ancestors, their heroes, and restore monuments. It is not difficult, really. If there is a desire. There is nothing complicated about it. This is work – work to perpetuate memory. As I have already said, the entire Pridnestrovian people are engaged in this work. This is our essence. It is hard for me to imagine that this does not happen in Pridnestrovie. This contradicts our inner essence. Our Pridnestrovian people – that is what they are”, the President answered.
The similarity of the monument in Tiraspol to the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” composition at the Kremlin Wall in Moscow did not go unnoticed by journalists. “That Memorial became a symbol of the Unknown Soldier. Such an idea came to reproduce in smaller forms, but this symbol of the valor of the Unknown Soldier, his grave by and large. The composition, it seems to me, fits in very well. I thank everyone. This is not an easy task. This banner, it weighs two hundred tons, is cast from cast iron, as it should be in full size, so to speak. This is memory, and if you do it, then you have to do it as it should be, for centuries", said Vadim Krasnoselsky.
