World history: The first meeting of the Organizing Committee on preparation of the activities associated with the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I held

9 April 2013
Source: The official web site of the State Duma

April 8, 2013 it was held the first meeting of the Organizing Committee on preparation of events, associated with the 100th anniversary of the World War I, where the tasks of the Organizing Committee were discussed.

“August 1, 2014 it will be 100 years since the beginning of the World War I, which profoundly affected the logic of human development throughout the XX century. And of course, the vector of development of many countries, including Russia”, - said the Chairman of the State Duma, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Sergei Naryshkin, opening a meeting of the Organizing Committee.

The Chairman of the State Duma reminded that in his December message the President of Russia Vladimir Putin spoke of perpetuating the memory of the heroes of World War I, he noted that the places connected with the World War I, were also in the Kaliningrad region. He offered to think about giving the status of the “field of Military Glory” to Gumbinnensky field, where the first victory of Russian arms in the war took place.

Also S. Naryshkin proposed to continue the list of knights of St. George on the walls of the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace after George Cross knights of the World War I.

“Russia has always carefully performed its alliance commitments and the heroic actions of the Russian army then made a great contribution to the victory of the Allies. In this regard, - said Sergei Naryshkin, - it is important that international commemorative events to have international character”.

At the meeting with the proposals on organization of anniversary events were delivered speeches of representatives of the Government, the media, public organizations, regional leaders, historians.

In particular, the Minister of Culture of Russia, Vladimir Medinsky spoke in detail “on the action plan to mark the anniversary”: these are the conduct of military-historical reconstructions, historical festivals, the creation of a museum of World War I in Tsarskoye Selo, documentary films, and the creation of an electronic database.

The Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma, the Chairman of the Russkiy Mir Foundation Vyacheslav Nikonov offered to conduct lessons in schools and universities, dedicated to this date.

S. Naryshkin as the Chairman of the Russian Historical Society reported that RHS starts to collect funds for a monument to the fallen in the World War I, which will be set in Moscow. Also it was emphasized the need for a public council, combining social initiatives, all those who take an active part in the reconstruction of the memory of heroes of the World War I.

Also, there was a proposal about a decent coverage of the World War I in history textbooks, and S. Naryshkin reminded the audience of the past extended meeting of the RHS, where was discussed the concept of the new history textbooks - ”to create a whole line of books on Russian history”.