VIDEO APPEAL OF RUSSIAN PUPILS

REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY

“Those who fail to learn the lessons of history

are destined to repeat them”

George Santayana

P1. “Yes, many people can disagree on this saying. Others can say that history is rather boring to study it. But I think we should know history and, first of all, not to repeat the mistakes of the past. To my mind, you cannot know the world history, but you must know the history of your own country. And I’m proud of my country and its history…”

P2. “… I’m proud of my country and its history. We have nothing in our past to be ashamed of. Of course, there were some dark pages in the history of our state. Our country was shaken by civil wars, by unpatriotic rulers. And I feel sorry about such historic events of our past. But nonetheless our peoples came through all the troubles with dignity…”

P3. “…with inherent dignity of the Russians. With that dignity that in the soul of any Russian soldier willing to give his life defending the motherland.”

P4. “… with that dignity that led, leads and will lead our generals, colonels, captains, lieutenants to the victory.”

P5. “to the victory over evil. And I’m proud of my country.”

P2. “I’m proud of my country.”

P3. “I’m proud of my country.”

P4. “I am proud of my country.”

P6. “I’m proud of the history of my country. I’m proud of it. Because my country never launched wars.”

P7. “My country never declared war on another country. My country never invaded enemy’s territory to control the enemy’s state. My country never expanded its power spilling blood of neighboring peoples.”

P8. “My country never shelled civilians, never bombed its own peoples, never conducted hostilities killing the armless, old men and children.”

P9. “But my country always protected the weak. My country always repelled enemy’s attacks defending its territory and people.”

P10. “My country won important victories and faced a defeat.”

P11. “My peoples showed great courage and determination to win. Because they knew that behind their backs there were their children, their peoples, their land. They couldn’t retreat. They couldn’t let the enemy capture them.”

P12. “My country suffered heavy casualties. Our warriors fell dead on the battlefields. But they were dying for their peoples, they were dying being heroes.”

P13. “Our Soviet Army with bad military equipment stood alone against Nazi well-organized troops. My great grandfather held the blockade of Stalingrad and took part in setting Prague free. And I’m proud of him.”

P14. “The historical facts of our past were distorted many times. But the wind of history dispersed all the lie.”

P15. “So, do we need to learn history? Of course, we do. And, above all, to realize the awful consequences of all the wars. There are no winners in a war. Any war proves to be ruinous and disastrous, costs the lives of million people. And war is always horrible and bloody.

Nowadays in rapid-developing world, in civilized society people solve problems by diplomacy. But some countries forget about it for some reasons.

Fortunately, my country, my peoples have picked out our way, the way leading to peaceful policy. Our President is a peacemaker and we’re proud of him.

We learn from history lessons and nobody will involve us in wars.

And now we’re appealing to all the people of the world: Please, stop fighting, stop killing each other, don’t let your children go to war. We must save our planet, keep it in peace for subsequent generations! And we’re sure you’ll hear us. Because –

THE FORCES OF GOOD ARE MIGHTIER THAN FORCES OF EVIL! REMEMBER IT!”