22nd of June 1941. 75 years separate us from that mournful day when the terrible word “war” entered in the life of every person in our country. Today we mark this sad date as the Day of Memory and Grief. Today the whole country holds events, dedicated to the memory of those killed in battle, dead in the rear of hunger and deprivation. We mourn for all who giving their life fulfilled a sacred duty, protecting their homeland in those severe years.

MEPhI together with the whole country celebrated this tragic date. Its students and employees gathered in the main square of the University to honor those who died in the bloodiest of wars, to say words of gratitude to the heroes.

A dance Studio “Esta-MEPhI” made a reconstruction of the events of that summer day. Young people danced a waltz “Light path” in memory of the graduates of 1941, when all their dreams and hopes war cruelly shattered. Just yesterday they whirled in the waltz, and the next day boys put on greatcoats and went to the front.

Our University, established in 1942 as the Moscow Mechanical Institute of Munitions, as one of many educational institutions of that time hastened the Great Victory. More than 250 MEPhI representatives went to the front, most of them never returned. Today there are only four living witnesses of those terrible events. The names of all those heroes are forever written in the history of our University. Today, all of them can be seen on posters that adorned the hall of the first floor of the MEPhI main building.

The University rector Mikhail Strikhanov said this date was of great significance and urgency to preserve a peaceful future. “We have no right to forget the price of this victory! I would like to believe that, if necessary, each of you will make the right choice and will defend our Motherland,” stated the rector. Addressing the younger generation, students, he heartily wished that the bloody war would never be repeated.