On 22 June 1941 the Great Patriotic War began. Eighty-three years later, on 22 June 2024, the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, we met in the heart of Vienna — on Schwarzenbergplatz, at the Heroes of the Red Army Monument — to honour those who faced that dawn.
Then, under the open sky, we showed the film “Podolsk Cadets” on a big screen.
Flowers, silence, songs
The evening began with flowers at the foot of the monument and a minute of silence. Then came the songs — and a square where people hurry about their business by day became, for a while, a place of remembrance.
The cadets who held back the advance
“Podolsk Cadets” is a film about the heroism of the cadets of the Podolsk artillery and infantry schools, who in 1941 held back the advance of German troops near Moscow.
An outdoor screening is always a gamble: nobody has to stop. But the screen drew many passers-by, and many stayed until the end. A story that is not easy to take in was suddenly right in front of people who were simply walking by — and it opened a conversation with them.
From the Immortal Regiment’s address to the evening’s participants, Vienna, June 2024Sharing memory — not within museum walls, but here and now, with living people.
A conversation after the credits
The most valuable part begins when the film ends. The faces of the audience and the words spoken after the last frame — that is what makes it worth taking a screen out into the square.
Thank you to everyone who was with us. Let us keep meeting, talking and remembering — together.
