The “Immortal Regiment” March action took place in the Tajik capital yesterday. About 1,000 people participated in the procession in honor of the veterans of World War II (WW II) this year, carrying photographs of their relatives who took part in WW II.
This year, the action started at 10:00 pm. The action participants gathered outside the Dushanbe Puppet Theater, and from there they marched to Victory Park, where they laid wreaths at the Military Glory Memorial and observed a minute of silence to honor those who lost their lives in that war.
The action ended with singing the wartime songs.
This year, the Dushanbe Administration has given permission to hold the “Immortal Regiment” March action to remember WWII relatives and provided vehicles to go to the Memorial but people walked up to the Memorial on foot.
Last year, about 500 people participated in the procession in honor of the veterans of World War II. Recall, veterans of war and labor in 2018 applied to the Dushanbe authorities asking for permission to organize the “Immortal Regiment” march, but they did not receive reply to their request. For all that, the Dushanbe authorities did not prevent the holding of the march.
In 2017, Tajik authorities decided not to go ahead with the “Immortal Regiment” march to mark the anniversary of the World War II victory over Nazi Germany.
Tajik national news agency Khovar even reported on May 4 2017 that the decision was prompted by security concerns and “Islamic traditions that do not approve of the public display of pictures of deceased people.”
The “Immortal Regiment” marched across Dushanbe on May 9, 2017 nevertheless. About 300 people participated in the procession.
The ‘Immortal Regiment’ is a public non-profit organization, created in Russia on a voluntary basis with the aim of "immortalizing" the memory of home front workers, partisans and members of the resistance, concentration camp prisoners, survivors of the Siege of Leningrad and children of war.
The ‘Immortal Regiment’ brings together people of all ages, social groups and political beliefs. Anyone can carry on the memory of war veterans and enroll to participate in the march to honor the memory of those who earned the hard-won victory in 1945.
Since its inception in 2007, the ‘Immortal Regiment’ initiative has been met with unprecedented support, and by 2015 it had received national status.
According to the Republican Council of Veterans of War and Labor, only 244 Tajik veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 are estimated to be still alive. Over the past year, their number has decreased by 100 people.
