A memorial plate in memory of the natives of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, who defended the besieged Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War, was opened in St. Petersburg.

Said Bargandzhia

The solemn opening ceremony of the memorial in honor of the natives of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, who died during the Great Patriotic War, was held in St. Petersburg on September 5 at Piskarevskoe Cemetery. Thus, the memory of the defenders of the besieged Leningrad was immortalized, among which were the Abazins.

At the inauguration of the memorial plate were the vice-governor of St. Petersburg Anna Metianina, the president of Karachay-Cherkessia Rashid Temrezov and the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the World Abaza Congress (WAC), the President of the ANO «Alashara» Mussa Ekzekov.

Ekzekov noted the event as extremely significant and important for all residents of St. Petersburg, and especially for the natives of Karachay-Cherkessia.

«A large number of people from our small homeland lives here. It will be our greatest honor to come here with children and friends in order to honor the memory of the deceased defenders of the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, the city of Leningrad itself. This is a huge event for us», the Chairman of the WAC stressed.

During the event, its participants remembered the heroism of the residents of Karachay-Cherkessia from the village of Besleney. Despite the risks, they hid in their homes from the Nazis children from besieged Leningrad. In total during the difficult war years, 32 children from Leningrad were granted asylum in the KChR.

On Piskarevskoe cemetery there is also a memorial plate to the defenders of the besieged Leningrad, natives of Abkhazia, which was opened in May 2004.

The plate dedicated to the KChR's natives became the 101 plate in the memorial complex in honor of the defenders of Leningrad from different regions.

Piskarevskoe cemetery was founded in 1939 on the northern outskirts of Leningrad and received its name from the nearby village of Piskarevka. In 1941-1944 it became a place of mass burials of those killed in the World War II. In the mass graves of the cemetery, victims of the siege of Leningrad and the soldiers of the Leningrad Front are buried - about 470,000 people, and according to other sources 520,000 people: 470,000 besieged and 50,000 servicemen. Piskarevskoye cemetery - the world's largest cemetery of victims of the World War II.