Within the walls of the Institute of Military Affairs of our University, on the basis of instructions from the Ministry of Defense, large-scale and extremely significant work continues, worthy of the highest words about heroism and dedication. Students, armed not only with knowledge, but also with a high sense of civic duty, carefully digitize archival documents from the Great Patriotic War, preserving for posterity pages of history filled with heroism, courage and self-sacrifice of our ancestors.
Every document, every photograph, every record is a living testimony to the heroic deeds of millions of Soviet people who stood up for the Motherland. Students perceive this work not just as an academic assignment, but as a holy mission: to bring forgotten memories back to life so that future generations know the truth about the war and never forget the price of Victory. “We feel a huge responsibility. Every page that we digitize is a voice of the past that should resound for the modern world,” one of the project participants shares his impressions.
As of March 26, 2026, a working group consisting of the management, faculty and students of the IVD digitized more than two thousand archival documents. In particular, the work is being carried out in relation to students whose great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers fought during the Second World War.
One of the most striking examples is the search and posting of archival information regarding the guards of Senior Sergeant Philip Trofimovich Nizhurin, commander of the mounted platoon of the 302nd separate reconnaissance company of the 214th Infantry Division of the 52nd Army of the First Ukrainian Front. Philip Trofimovich distinguished himself during the battles in Silesia.
On January 25, 1945, Nizhurin’s platoon was the first to reach the Oder in the area of the village of Lange (now Lęg, southeast of Wroclaw) and reconnoitered the crossings, after which it crossed to the west bank, captured the bridgehead and held it until the main forces crossed. On March 3, 1945, Nizhurin died in battle. He was buried in the village of Ottendorf (now Ocice, 9 kilometers southwest of the city of Boleslaviec, Poland).
As of 1993, he was reburied in the cemetery of the city of Zhagan from the city of Novogrud-Bobzhansky. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated April 10, 1945, Guard Senior Sergeant Philip Nizhurin was posthumously awarded the high title Hero of the Soviet Union. He was also posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. Guard Senior Sergeant Philip Nizhurin is the great-grandfather of our student Victoria Hamidullina, who is studying at the Institute of Military Accounting in the specialty “Organization of educational and ideological work in the ground Forces.” The work continues with unflagging enthusiasm, and the results of digitization are already becoming a valuable source for researchers, students and anyone who honors the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. This mission, where technology meets history, shows that the feat continues not only on the battlefields, but also in the scientific classrooms and archive halls of our time.
