The main exhibition project dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory opened in the Historical Museum

On April 29, 2025, the State Historical Museum hosted the official opening of the main exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of the Great Victory, "Without the Right to be Forgotten.", prepared by order of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. The opening ceremony was attended by Sergey Evgenievich Naryshkin, Chairman of the Russian Historical Society and Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Tatyana Alekseevna Golikova, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Olga Borisovna Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The chronological framework of the exhibition ranges from the invasion of Nazi Germany and its satellites into the USSR on June 22, 1941, to the Victory Day Parade on Red Square in Moscow on June 24, 1945, which became a symbol of the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Visitors to the exhibition will have a unique opportunity to see the main historical rarities – more than 500 archival documents and 700 museum exhibits that show the decisive contribution of the Soviet people to the Victory over Nazi Germany and its satellites, tell about the great feat of the multinational Soviet people and the Red Army, about the enormous sacrifices suffered by the USSR in the name of saving the world from fascism. Among them: the handwritten text of V.M. Molotov's famous speech, which he delivered on the radio on June 22, 1941. The speech concluded with the prophetic words: "Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours!"

At the beginning of the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova read out greetings from President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the organizers and guests of the exhibition. "Today we see the devastating consequences of falsifying historical facts. Therefore, we must firmly defend the truth about the decisive contribution of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers to the Great Victory, and fight back against those who try to justify the crimes of invaders and murderers, who nowadays seek to revive the ideology of national superiority and exclusivity," the Russian President's greeting reads.

The exhibition presents personal belongings of the heroes of the Soviet Union - Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Alexander Matrosov, Alexei Maresyev, sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko; documents of female pilots from the legendary night aviation regiment Taman ("night witches"), members of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard" in Krasnodon. Among the unique documents are the original decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the establishment of orders and medals during the Great Patriotic War, as well as the awards themselves, including the Order of Victory.

For the first time, the exhibition will feature a complete set of awards of the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Union, I.V. Stalin, which he was awarded during the war. In the final hall of the exhibition, the most valuable relic is presented - the Victory Banner hoisted over the defeated Reichstag by soldiers of the 150th Infantry Order of Kutuzov II degree of the Idritsky Division of the 79th Infantry Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. Among the unique documents is the original text of Marshal G.K. Zhukov's speech, which he delivered on June 24, 1945 at the Victory Day Parade. Several pages with handwritten notes by the legendary commander have preserved traces of the rain that fell on Moscow on that momentous day.

Alexey Levykin, General Director of the State Historical Museum, said: "The organization of the main exhibition dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the State Historical Museum is particularly symbolic. Our museum witnessed two significant events of that era: in November 1941, regiments marched past the walls of its walls, immediately after the parade to defend the capital, and in June 1945, victorious soldiers marched triumphantly through Red Square. The memory of the Great Patriotic War and the heroic deed of the Soviet people is not subject to oblivion or revision. As witnesses of modern events in the world, we are clearly aware of the consequences of the falsification of historical facts, which is disastrous for the state and society."