LIFE launched a special project "Letter to Grandfather" by May 9th

Natalia Poklonskaya, Askold Zapashny, Vyacheslav Makarov, Ekaterina Mizulina, Adelina Sotnikova and other famous Russians and opinion leaders wrote letters to their relatives from the generation of winners.

On Victory Day, LIFE presented a special project "Letter to Grandfather" — a series of personal video messages in which famous public figures, artists, athletes and media personalities address their grandfathers, great—grandfathers and relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War.

The project focuses on letters to those who can no longer be hugged, questioned, and thanked in person. The heroes of the project are left alone with a piece of paper, family photos and words that many did not have time to say to their loved ones during their lifetime.

Natalia Poklonskaya, Askold Zapashny, Vyacheslav Makarov, Ekaterina Mizulina, Adelina Sotnikova, Maria Kozhevnikova, David Nuriev (Ptakha), as well as the NANSI & SIDOROV duo Anastasia Belyavskaya and Oleg Sidorov took part in the project.

Natalia Poklonskaya became the first heroine of the project. In her letter, she remembers her grandfather and says that the war went through the fate of every family.: "Every family has been affected by this war. And I'm no exception. My grandfather brought peace and a better life for himself and his descendants. He told me about the terrible events that had affected him. I am proud of him and I want to encourage all those who are not indifferent to talk about the heroism of their families."

She stressed that the memory of the generation of winners should not be postponed for later.

In one of the issues of the project, Vyacheslav Makarov, a singer, musician and TV presenter, addresses his grandfather from the generation of winners. For him, participating in the project was not a public gesture, but a personal conversation with family history: "For me, this is primarily a personal story. Our family cherishes the memory of my grandfather, who went through the difficult years of the war. Over time, I understand more and more how important it is to remember this time, to live it, to let it pass through myself."

According to him, such projects help to see the fate of specific people behind a long story.

"Behind each date there are specific destinies, families, exploits. Their memory is not only a tribute, but also the foundation of our identity. It is a moral guideline that forms values and helps to understand responsibility, courage and love for the Motherland," he added.

Askold Zapashny, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Moscow Circus, addresses Grandfather Mikhail in his letter. He talks about a man who remained an example of strength, honesty and responsibility for the family: "For our family, memory is a part of life. My grandfather Mikhail was a man whom all his descendants look up to. I would like to tell him that years later he remains a role model, a hero for both his great-grandchildren and his country. We are proud of him."

Figure skater Adelina Sotnikova wrote a letter to her great—grandfather, Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilyevich Kochetov. For her, it became a way to say thank you to a man whose feat is directly linked to the lives of future generations.

"After learning about his exploits, I felt a deep personal connection with the past: his courage gave me the opportunity to live and achieve success in sports. The letter became a way to express this gratitude. Such projects bring history to life, turning it from a set of dates into the personal destinies of loved ones. It is a moral duty to remember the exploits of our relatives: this is how we preserve the values of courage, perseverance and love for the Motherland. I hope that my example will inspire others to remember their heroes," Sotnikova said.

Marina Feshchenko, editor-in-chief of LIFE, noted that the project was born out of a feeling that is becoming especially acute today: the generation of winners is leaving, and with it the lively intonation of the war is disappearing.

"The generation of winners is leaving. And with it, the lively intonation of war disappears — not from textbooks, not from ceremonial speeches, but from the family kitchen, from old photographs, from short stories, after which silence fell in the room. We can still hold onto this memory, but we no longer have the right to postpone it.

In our project, famous people write letters to those who can no longer be hugged, thanked, questioned. And that's why these letters sound so poignant — without pathos, with human pain, love and a sense of duty to those who once did the impossible so that we could just live today.

It is important to us that the viewer after these videos remembers and connects his person with the Victory. Grandfather, great-grandfather, grandmother, great-grandmother. He took out a photo. He gave me a name. I told the children. Because memory doesn't die when heroes leave, but when we stop talking about them," she said.

In the visual part of the project, LIFE deliberately avoids excessive solemnity. In the frame there is only the hero, the letter, old photographs and the silence in which the most important words sound. This format brings the conversation about Victory back to the personal space of the family and reminds them that a big story begins with a specific name, face and fate.

The special project "Letter to Grandfather" will be released on the platforms of LIFE by May 9th. Each issue is a personal appeal to relatives from the winners' generation and an attempt to preserve memory not as a formality, but as a living link between the past and the future.