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| Immortal Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Name | Immortal Regiment |
| Native name | Бессмертный полк |
| Established | 2012 |
| Founder | Sergey ? Kiriyenko? |
| First event | 2012 Tomsk march |
| Type | public march |
| Purpose | commemorate veterans of the Great Patriotic War |
Immortal Regiment is a civic commemorative movement that organizes mass processions in which participants carry portraits of relatives who fought in the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet front of World War II, to honor wartime service and sacrifice. Originating in Tomsk and popularized through events in Khabarovsk and Yekaterinburg, the movement spread across Russia, the Former Soviet Union, and internationally to cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kyiv, Minsk, Belgrade, Berlin, New York City, and Vancouver. The initiative intersects with memorial traditions associated with Victory Day (9 May), Pobeda (Victory), and monuments like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The movement began with local grassroots initiatives in Tomsk and Kemerovo in the early 2010s, inspired by commemorative practices in Sevastopol and Volgograd. Early organizers referenced the legacy of Soviet partisans, Red Army veterans, and public rituals performed at sites such as the Motherland Calls statue in Volgograd and the Bronze Soldier memorial disputes in Tallinn. High-profile participation by figures associated with United Russia and officials from the Presidential Administration of Russia helped scale the event to national prominence before and after large-scale Victory Day ceremonies in Moscow Kremlin and Red Square. The format drew upon precedents in wartime remembrance tied to the Order of Victory, Hero of the Soviet Union recipients, and local veterans’ councils, evolving into an organized annual procession spanning municipal administrations and civil society groups.
Organizing bodies have ranged from volunteer collectives and local Veterans of the Second World War associations to municipal cultural departments and parliamentary deputies from parties such as United Russia, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Major staging often coordinates with municipal police, Ministry of Emergency Situations (Russia), transport authorities, and organizers of state ceremonies tied to the Victory Parade. Participation typically includes descendants of Soviet Armed Forces personnel, families of frontoviks, war orphans, and delegations from diasporic communities including Ukrainian diaspora, Belarusian diaspora, Georgian diaspora, Jewish diaspora, and Chechen diaspora. Prominent public figures—actors from the Maly Drama Theatre, musicians from the Red Army Choir, writers associated with the Russian Academy of Sciences, and officials formerly linked to the KGB and Ministry of Defence (Russia)—have occasionally led marches.
Processions center on participants carrying photographic portraits of individuals who served in conflicts associated with World War II, including those decorated with awards like the Order of Lenin and Hero of the Soviet Union. Events often converge on symbolic locations such as the Mamayev Kurgan complex, Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery, and municipal memorials to the Siege of Leningrad. Ceremonial elements include laying wreaths at monuments like the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga, performing renditions by ensembles such as the Alexandrov Ensemble, and reading names similar to roll-call traditions at Pantheon memorials. Oral histories, family archives, and museum exhibitions at institutions like the State Historical Museum and Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War are frequently linked to processional narratives.
Critics have debated the movement’s relationship to state-sponsored memory politics and its use in public diplomacy linked to the Foreign Policy of Russia and regional governance by actors from federative subjects like Crimea and Sevastopol. Scholars and commentators from institutions such as European University at Saint Petersburg and Harvard University have raised concerns about instrumentalization of personal commemoration for political legitimation, noting overlaps with events organized by representatives of Rosgvardia and regional administrations. Disputes have emerged in cities like Kyiv and Tallinn where competing narratives about collaboration, Holocaust memory, and wartime occupation intersect with local laws on public assembly and monuments—for example, clashes around the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn and legislative measures in the Rada of Ukraine. Some veterans’ groups and historians associated with the Memorial (society) have criticized selective remembrance and the marginalization of contested episodes such as wartime deportations and ethnic persecutions.
After expansion into Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and the Baltic states, the format adapted to diasporic commemorations in cities across Europe, North America, and Latin America, including gatherings in Paris, Berlin, London, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, Toronto, and Chicago. Variants incorporate local veterans from conflicts like the Korean War, Spanish Civil War veterans in exile circles, and remembrance of antifascist fighters linked to organizations such as the International Brigades. Host institutions range from consulates and cultural centers like the Russian Centre for Science and Culture to municipal councils and ethnic associations such as Federation of Russian Canadians and Serbian Patriotic Associations.
The movement has appeared in documentary films screened at festivals like Moscow International Film Festival and IDFA, been the subject of photojournalism in outlets tied to agencies like TASS and AP News, and inspired exhibits at museums including the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia. Literary treatments reference poets and writers honored in the marches, invoking names such as Alexander Tvardovsky, Anna Akhmatova, and Boris Pasternak in commemorative anthologies. Musicians and choirs performing at events draw from repertoires associated with composers like Dmitri Shostakovich and Isaak Dunayevsky, while theatrical and visual artists connected to institutions like the Bolshoi Theatre and the State Hermitage Museum have produced works engaging with the movement’s themes.
Category:Commemoration