Superheroes Among Us: A Tale of Real People

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

“Heroes - what are they? In a red cloak and mask, hovering over the city - or are they ordinary people who have decided on an act?”- this is how the video of the“MEMORY OF GENERATIONS”foundation about the exhibition“Heroes of Russia, as nobody saw them”begins.

The photo project tells about those who managed to get up after a crushing blow and start a new life, and it is dedicated to the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland. The holiday was established in honor of the establishment by Catherine II of the Order of St. George the Victorious, the highest military award for courage and courage. Every year, at a gala reception in the Kremlin, the knights of the order, Heroes of Russia and the USSR, gather, and people all over the country say words of gratitude to the veterans. And this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin again honored the heroes in the Kremlin. During the solemn ceremony, in the Malachite Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, everyone could see the exposition of the photo project - portraits of the heroes of our days. It is about them, about their strength, courage, overcoming, and we want to tell you.

Rafael Iskhakov: through hardships to the stars

In Ufa, there is a man who has accomplished the impossible by climbing Elbrus on a prosthesis - a mountain that many cannot conquer even on two legs. Rafael Iskhakov dreamed about this since childhood, but there was a moment when it seemed that the dream was not destined to come true. In 1984, after graduating from the Kamyanets-Podolsk Higher Military Engineering and Command School, Rafael was assigned to the Moscow Military District, and from there to serve in Afghanistan. In Kabul, the commander of an electrical platoon, Rafael Iskhakov, was blown up by a mine and at the age of 22 became disabled: doctors could not save his right leg.

In the hospital, the "Afghans" were all together: looking at the guys who suffered even more, but supported their comrades in misfortune, Iskhakov realized that he had no right to give up. From Afghanistan, he went home, finished his service - and learned to walk again. The injury did not affect the main life principles: Rafael Iskhakov remained a purposeful person who always strives for new heights. He participated in many sports competitions, tourist expeditions and rafting on mountain rivers, and in 2016 he fulfilled his dream and climbed Elbrus - at the age of 54. The veteran of the war in Afghanistan does not intend to stop there and now dreams of conquering new heights.

Fedor Riznichuk: wake up and dance

Fedor Riznichuk was born in Moldova, at the age of 10 he moved with his parents to the Chita region. In the army, he served on the Altai border, and then, after returning home for a short time, he went as a contract soldier to Tajikistan, where the irreparable happened: at the age of 23, after an injury in the exercises, Fedor was forever deprived of the opportunity to walk. It was very difficult to come to terms with the new circumstances: such melancholy fell upon me that it seemed as if the walls of the chamber would shrink and crush into a cake. But Riznichuk was able to cope - and for this he is very grateful to his mother, who did everything to bring her son back to life. Having sold their village house near Chita, the family moved to the city of Andreapol, Tver region, and the next five years were devoted to continuous rehabilitation.

Life gradually improved. Fedor still lives in Andreapol and works in the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Tver region. He is 39 years old, and over the years he not only did not despair, but also achieved new successes, finding himself in sports: Riznichuk jumps with a parachute, raises a barbell, is engaged in rowing and athletics and even dances in a special wheelchair, higher and more mobile. than usual. Fedor is a popular personality in his hometown, he is constantly invited to schools to meet with children, he goes to sports competitions and communicates with a huge number of people. The senior sergeant of the artillery battalion confidently, like all military men, says that barriers exist only in the head, and your present and future depend only on you.

Alexander Filatov: first at the finish line

Sport helped to start a new life and Alexander Filatov. In Chechnya, he stepped on a mine in battle and lost his foot. The first prosthesis was found unsuccessfully, the wound did not heal, complications arose, and I had to go back to the operating table. Leaving the hospital, Filatov, accustomed to being on the front line, decided that the staff work was not for him, and resigned from the army. The battle with circumstances and oneself continued - but already in sports, and here Alexander not only won a brilliant victory, but also became a pioneer and an example for many other people who found themselves in the same situation.

Filatov was the first athlete without a shin in the country, the first to acquire a running prosthesis, and became one of the first paraathletes-athletes. Now the veteran of the war in Chechnya is 36 years old, he is a world famous athlete, and among his achievements are the title of master of sports of international class, multiple medalist and record holder of Russia, bronze medalist of the European Championship and participant of the Paralympics in London 2012. Alexander is actively involved in sports and helps the pupils of the National Teams Training Center in Khimki prepare for competitions, and this year a photograph of Filatov with a throwing disc in his hand has become the hallmark of the photo project "Heroes of Russia as No One Has Seen Them Like They Are".

Egor Musinov: the man said - the man did

The peer of Alexander Filatov is 34-year-old Yegor Musinov, a veteran of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Egor served under a contract in Chechnya as a scout-gunner, and in 2004 was wounded by an explosive mine. The event turned out to be fateful in every sense: the Siberian guy was sent to a hospital in the Kuban, where he met his future wife Anna. After the wedding, she persuaded him to move to the south, and had to start life from scratch, but Yegor did everything possible so that his family did not need anything. He found a job at a time when it was almost impossible, bought an apartment and a car, and now Anna and Yegor Musinovs live in Bataisk, a small town near Rostov-on-Don, and have two children. Yegor is a reserve sergeant, among his awards is a badge “For Service in the Caucasus”, a medal “For Courage”, “For Military Valor” and Lermontov's medal - for his personal contribution to the restoration of peace and harmony in the Caucasus.

Is there a new Tsushima waiting for us?

Children consider dad a hero, no doubt that he will cope with everything, and this is true - but sometimes heroes need help too. Due to bureaucratic problems, Yegor was left without a prosthesis for almost a year and would have been waiting for him to this day, if not for the help of “MEMORY OF GENERATIONS”. A charitable foundation raised money to buy a high-tech prosthesis and presented it to Egor this summer. Helping veterans not only of the Great Patriotic War, but also of all the hostilities in which Russia and the USSR took part, has already become a new charitable tradition, and it was this foundation that laid the foundation for it.

On the occasion of Heroes of the Fatherland Day, the MEMORY OF GENERATIONS foundation presented another project of its own, implemented together by lifestyle photographers Daniil Golovkin and Olga Tuponogova-Volkova - the photo exhibition Heroes of Russia, as nobody has seen them. The main idea of the project is to show that veterans can be completely different in appearance, but they are all united by a huge inner strength that no circumstances can break.

“Any person is pleased when he is praised for a job well done, and for our heroes, work is a battle for their native country and a daily battle with their own fear, apathy and pain. All of them went through inhumanly difficult trials and survived, but none of them asks for a reward or special treatment for this, and does not even think that they have done something special. They are sure that they have fulfilled their duty, and there is nothing supernatural in this, because the heroes have no idea that they could have done otherwise. We want everyone to know about their feat, because our veterans deserve it,”said Katerina Kruglova, executive director of the MEMORY OF GENERATIONS charitable foundation.

The example of Yegor Musinov, Alexander Filatov, Fyodor Riznichuk and Rafael Iskhakov can inspire anyone for daily feats, because veterans are the real superheroes of our time: those who perceive feats as work and do not demand anything in return.