On the 5th Regional Competition «Young Archivist» in the Gomel Region

Published: November 21, 2025

This year’s regional competition «Young Archivist» (hereinafter referred to as the Competition) was held under the theme of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory and was dedicated to the theme of childhood during the war.

The location of the finals was also symbolic – at the memorial complex «Children – Victims of War» in Krasny Bereg, where one of the largest children’s donor concentration camps was located in the distant 1940s.

This year, more than 60 young local historians from across the region joined the research effort. Under the guidance of curators, the young people studied archival materials, the biographies of their fellow countrymen, and stories of the sorrows and hardships they endured during their childhood during the war.

The best of the best attended the awards ceremony. The finalists’ works convey a profound research and a powerful message: we are the guardians of the memory of the past and are entrusted with preserving peace in our native land.

The awards ceremony was attended by Artem Kamalyev, Head of the Main Department of Justice of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee, who noted that for Belarus, the memory of the war is the personal history of every family. Preserving this memory means remaining true to the legacy of the victors, honoring the ideals of goodness and justice, and, most importantly, doing everything possible to ensure the horrors of war never recur.

This year, the competition was held for the fifth time. The organizers were the Main Department of Justice of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee, the Department of Education of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee, and the Main Department of Culture of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee. The State Archives of the Gomel Region and the Gomel Regional Center for Tourism and Ecology for Children and Youth were directly responsible for overseeing the competition.

The winners of the competition were:

1. Alexandra Vusenko (State Educational Institution «Boarding School for Children with Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Disorders of Gomel»);
2. Arseniy Plyakin (Gomel Secondary School No.3 named after D.N.Penyazkov);
3. Ekaterina Tabulina (Svetlogorsk Gymnasium);
4. Sofia Zayats (Gomel Secondary School No.31).

It is gratifying to note that Sofia Zayats is a member of the «Young Archivist» club at the State Archives of the Gomel Region.

At the conclusion of the event, the Competition participants took part in a memorial rally, laid flowers, and observed a moment of silence in memory of the victims.