On the Day of Memory and Mourning, employees of the Embassy of Tatarstan laid flowers in Moscow at the monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union Musa Jalil.

Exactly 80 years ago, early in the morning, the troops of Hitlerite Germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union. The Nazis planned to quickly destroy the main forces of the Soviet troops. However, their plan was thwarted: the Red Army put up fierce resistance.

The most terrible and bloody war in the history of our country began.

The fighting lasted 1,418 days and claimed the lives of more than 26 million Soviet residents.

700 thousand sons and daughters of Tatarstan went to the front. Half of them did not return home. 186 natives of the Tatar ASSR were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The graves of the dead natives of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic are today located in all regions where the war was going on. They also actively participated in the Battle of Moscow.

At 12:15 pm Moscow time, there was an all-Russian minute of silence in memory of those killed during the war. It was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Alexander Garden. Before that, he laid flowers at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin wall, as well as at each of the steles on the alley of hero cities and cities of military glory.

The time for the mourning ritual was not chosen by chance – it was at this moment on June 22, 1941 that the Soviet government’s appeal to the citizens of the country was broadcast, where it was reported about the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union.

The great Tatar poet Musa Jalil did not return home either. From Moscow in February 1942 he was sent to the front, where he worked in the editorial office of the Otvaga newspaper. Once captured, Jalil, together with like-minded people, created an underground group of resistance to fascism.

In February 1944, a Nazi court sentenced 11 clandestine organizers to death. On August 25, 1944, they were beheaded by guillotine at Ploetzensee prison on the outskirts of Berlin.