On September 8, Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Siege of Leningrad, there was a ceremony in Shcheglovo, Vsevolozhsky District, Leningrad Oblast, where a memorial stone was laid on the site of the future monument to the multiethnic troops of 63rd Guards Infantry Division of the Leningrad Front (Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945).Plans are made to build a patriotic ethno park called The Road of Life around the monument. Andrei Nizovski, the head of Vsevolozhsky Municipal District, said, “This place will be dedicated not only to the heroism of the defenders of our Motherland, but also to the interethnic brotherhood.”
The ceremony was attended by representatives of various ethnic-cultural and religious associations. Bishop Ivan Laptev was invited to represent The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria. Members of The Church of Ingria have been on the Council for Interethnic Cooperation under the administration of Vsevolozhsky District for 10 years. Working together with this body of local self-government has therefore become a good tradition.On the same day, Bishop Laptev paid homage to the victims of the Siege by laying flowers in Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Photo credits: Bishop Laptev