WW2 VETERANS SHARE THEIR STORIES IN RT’S ‘WAR WITNESS: HERITAGE’ PROJECT

MOSCOW, APRIL 7, 2015 – RT launches War Witness: Heritage project, marking 70 years since the end of the Second World War. Viewers will get a chance to hear moving, tragic and inspiring accounts from those who had experienced the horrors of the Great Patriotic War first-hand.

Every day up in the run-up to the 70th anniversary celebration of the Soviet Victory on May 9, War Witness: Heritage will feature stories from the war’s 70 veterans. These men and women share their memories of the war: some have survived an almost three-years-long Siege of Leningrad, others were part of landmark military operations of the Soviet Army.

“When I close my eyes I immediately recall that shaded room, with an oil lamp on the table, and a potbelly stove standing in the center. There’s something boiling on it but it doesn’t smell tasty. I know it must be wood glue but I am hungry anyway. We were getting 125 grams of bread per day, and that was it, nothing else,” recalls a 78-year-old Leningrad Siege survivor Tatiana Korsakova.

Stepan Karnaukhov, 90, explains: “I see the war primarily as a very hard, exhausting work – for instance, covering long distances overnight, carrying heavy loads as if soldiers were donkeys. All along our way we could see flames burning to our right, to our left, and ahead of us – the country was on fire.”

The segments also include appearances by the veterans’ grand- and great-grandchildren, all of whom express gratitude to the truly heroic generation for their sacrifice and peace.

RT International will feature two new War Witness: Heritage veteran stories every weekday until May 9. The project can be followed online https://warwitness.rt.com.