Memorial Park - Ghidirim

On the banks of the Dniester River in the village of Gidirim stands the largest monument to the Great Patriotic War in the Rybnitsa district—a 10-meter-high arch topped with a bell, a symbol of eternal memory of those who defended their homeland. On either side of the arch are four sculptures: a Soviet soldier, a partisan, a widow with a child, and a grieving mother. The sculptures of the soldier and the partisan represent all those who fought heroically for Victory. Three hundred and eleven residents of the village fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, more than a hundred of them were awarded orders and medals, and 128 fellow villagers never returned home. The figures of the widow and the grieving mother symbolize the mourning for the fallen fellow villagers and Soviet soldiers who defended the village. The village of Gidirim was liberated from German occupation on March 30, 1944. In 1964, a monument to the fallen was erected on the banks of the Dniester River with funds from the collective farm. In 1969, while digging a basement in the village, the remains of two Soviet soldiers who died in the summer of 1941 were found and buried near the monument. As a result of research conducted by the rural museum, the names of two Soviet soldiers buried at the memorial were established. On June 28, 1941, a fierce battle took place in the village with the Germans who had broken through the Dniester River. The 57th Separate Machine Gun Battalion managed to hold back the enemy, and when reinforcements arrived, they drove the fascists back across the river. Two soldiers died in this battle: the commander of the machine gun company, Lieutenant Illarion Fyodorovich Aralov, and his assistant, Lieutenant Pavel Mitrofanovich Morozov. In 2024, the names of the heroes, who had been unknown for 80 years, were immortalized at the Memorial. Over time, the village monument began to deteriorate, and in 1990, construction began on a modern memorial, which was solemnly opened on May 9, 1991 - the last year of the Soviet Union's existance. In 2020, it underwent partial reconstruction.