Volgograd students support commemoration of victims of repression

Volgograd university students have taken part in the all-Russian action "Names' Return" by gathering at the monument to the victims of Stalin's repressions and reading out the names of those repressed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 22, in Volgograd, about a dozen participants in the "Names' Return" action gathered to read out the names of victims of Stalin's repressions. The today's society should realize the mistakes of the past, stop wars and persecution of dissidents, the activists have stated.

Five participants of the all-Russian action "Names' Return" gathered at the monument to victims of repressions entitled "Going to Heaven". The young people said that they were students and were afraid of being expelled from the university for participating in an unauthorized event.

"Each of us has ancestors in the history of our families, who suffered from Stalin's repressions," said one of the students.

This year, in Volgograd, the "Names' Return" action, unsanctioned by the authorities, became the largest in all the years it had been held in the region, said Andrei Rebrov, an activist of the "Memorial" Society in the Volgograd Region. "In just two days, almost 20 people took part in the "Names' Return" campaign," he said.

Mr Rebrov has associated such activeness with the campaign to plant Stalin' cult in Volgograd. "People who realize the horror of re-Stalinization find it the safest action to read out the names of their relatives and strangers who had suffered in Soviet times," the activist has explained.

The "Names' Return" campaign is held on October 29, although the Remembrance Day for Victims of Stalin's Repressions is marked a day later, Andrei Rebrov has added.