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27 January 2024

Gazprom-Media Holding is making two films in memory of civilians killed during the Great Patriotic War

Gazprom-Media Holding will release two films dedicated to the victims of Nazi genocide. This was announced on January 27 by Aleksandr Zharov, CEO of the holding company, on the day of the unveiling of a memorial to civilians of the Soviet Union who died during the Great Patriotic War. The documentary picture will be released this year for the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow on June 22. The producer is Maksim Bespalyy, who filmed the historical series The Romanovs. A feature film is being jointly worked on with producer Inessa Yurchenko, and is scheduled to premiere in 2025.

Both films deal with the genocide of Soviet children during the Great Patriotic War. The fascists set up about 13 concentration camps in the Gatchina district of Leningrad Region. One of them, in the village of Vyritsa, was known as “Children’s Home” by the German soldiers. It held children under the age of 14, who were tortured, starved, and used for hard labor and as blood donors for wounded Germans.

The terrible events that took place in the children’s concentration camp in Vyritsa were the basis of a visual novel that the Insight People production center released to mark the anniversary of liberation from the siege of Leningrad. We plan to make a documentary film, which we will place on the holding company’s platforms and offer all Russian platforms on non-commercial terms, so that as many viewers as possible can learn about the heinous crimes of the German invaders on the territory of our country. In addition, for the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory next year, we are preparing a feature length film, the heroes of which will be surviving children, saved thanks to local bishop Seraphim Vyritsky, now canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. And with the help of the film’s artistic language, I hope to bring this story to millions of people who care.
Aleksandr Zharov CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding
In just a few days, the Children’s Home social video gained more than a million views on Russian video platforms. This is the ninth visual novel of the UNforgotten anthology created by the Insight People production center.
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