Memorial Complex - Ungheni

The memorial includes the inscription in Russian: "ВЕЧНАЯ ПАМЯТЬ ГЕРОЯМ, ПАВШИМ ЗА ОСВОБОЖДЕНИЕ ГОРОДА УНГЕНЬ И УНГЕНЬСКОГО РАЙОНА", translated as "Eternal Memory to the Fallen Heroes in the Liberation of Ugheni and Ungheni District. " The memorial complex was designed by the famous Moldovan architect I.S. Eltman and is one of the landmarks of the city of Ungheni. The central memorial plaque bears lines from Robert Rozhdestvensky's poem “Requiem,” in front of which is an eternal flame. It reads: "ЧЕРЕЗ ВЕКА, ЧЕРЕЗ ГОДА — ПОМИНИТЕ! О ТЕХ, КТО УЖЕ НЕ ПРИДЕТ НИКОГДА — ПОМНИ!" or "“Through the centuries, through the years — remember! Of those who will never return — remember!” This is an excerpt of a famous poem by Robert Rozhdestvensky, often quoted on Soviet war memorials dedicated to the fallen of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky was a Soviet-Russian poet and songwriter who broke with socialist realism in the 1950s–1960s during the Khrushchev Thaw. On either side of the plaque are the names of Soviet soldiers who died in August 1944 during the Iasi-Kishinev Offensive. The marble slab near the eternal flame bears the inscription: “The city of Ungheni and the Ungheni District were liberated on August 22, 1944, by the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.” The memorial was officially opened in 1969 on Victory Day. On the 30th anniversary of Victory Day, veterans of the 5th Zvenigorod Guards Airborne Division, which played an important role in the Iasi-Kishinev Operation, erected a modest stele with a bronze plaque at the Military Glory Memorial in memory of their fallen comrades. Among those buried in the mass grave are Hero of the Soviet Union Captain Dmitry Kuzmin and Guard Air Regiment Commander Major Fyodor Musatov. A small obelisk with a marble memorial plaque on one of its sides was erected in memory of Major Musatov, commander of the 168th Guards Red Banner Fighter-Bomber Regiment, who died on August 20, 1944, during the liberation of Ungheni. The memorial plaque is now missing; it may have fallen off as a result of construction work - a monastery has been under construction behind the Military Glory Memorial since 2018.