How it was №1 09.05.1999 (1999)

Video chronicle: Moscow, 1966. A funeral procession is marching through the streets of the city, taking part in the transfer of the ashes of an unknown soldier from a mass grave in the Moscow region for reburial at the walls of the Kremlin.

City residents are crying as they see the column off.

Program participant Nikolai Egorychev, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, one of the initiators of the installation of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial at the walls of the Moscow Kremlin in the Alexander Garden.

He explains that the day of the reburial was not chosen by chance - December 3, 1966 marked 25 years since the victory in the Battle of Moscow.

The memorial complex was opened later, in 1967. According to Egorychev, when sketches of the complex were shown to Leonid Brezhnev, he initially did not support the initiative to erect a monument, but, having subsequently approved the project, spoke out against its installation in the Alexander Garden.

Gennady Fomin talks about the work of the architectural bureau, considering various city squares as a site for the complex, about how the final decision was made to erect the monument near the Kremlin walls.

Nikolay Egorychev recalls the trick the whole team had to use to convince Leonid Brezhnev of the need to place the memorial complex in the Alexander Garden.

At that time, in the Alexander Garden, there was a stele, placed in connection with the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.

On Lenin's orders, the names of the representatives of the royal dynasty were erased and the names of the leaders of the revolutionary movement were carved out instead.

The stele was eventually moved arbitrarily, without official permission.

Nikolay Egorychev talks about the history of the mass grave during the construction of Zelenograd.

In addition to the Unknown Soldier, eight more soldiers were buried there.

The program includes spectators in the hall.

Most of them are veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

They remember their comrades who never returned from battle, buried in mass graves without a trace.

Maria Shinkareva talks about identifying soldiers buried in mass graves.

According to her, they could contain both heroes and deserters who fled the army.

Video chronicle of 1966 (December 3): Mass grave in Zelenograd.

Sarcophagus with the remains of an unknown soldier.

Maria Shinkareva witnessed the funeral procession passing through the streets of Moscow.

Veterans share their memories.

Video chronicle: Burial of remains in the Alexander Garden near the Kremlin walls.

Marshal of the USSR Konstantin Rokossovsky carries the sarcophagus along with others.

Nikolai Egorychev explains why Marshal of the USSR Georgy Zhukov was not allowed to participate in the burial ceremony.

The eternal flame was lit only six months later, on May 8, 1967. Nikolai Egorychev talks about the origin of the lines carved in granite: "Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal." He independently made changes to the version proposed by Sergei Mikhalkov, which was subsequently approved.

Interview with Sergei Mikhalkov.

Video chronicle: On May 7, 1967, in Leningrad (now St.

Petersburg), a torch was lit from the eternal flame on the Field of Mars in order to deliver it to Moscow.

The flame was transported in a specially equipped armored vehicle.

On the way to the capital, the procession stopped in populated areas at monuments erected in honor of those who died in the Great Patriotic War.

Entry into Moscow.

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Meresyev carries the torch.

Nikolay Egorychev, who personally took part in the grand opening ceremony of the memorial, tells about the incident that happened to Leonid Brezhnev when he lit the Eternal Flame.

Video chronicle: Leonid Brezhnev takes the torch from Alexey Meresyev, opens the memorial complex by lighting the Eternal Flame.

Veterans share their memories.

Interview with Sergei Mikhalkov.

The author of the memorial lines, imprinted in the monolith, wishes that the events that caused this never happen again in the history of our people.

Video chronicle: People lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the walls of the Moscow Kremlin in the Alexander Garden.