It’s been 69 years since the end of the war, when the Soviet people won a great victory over fascism. It is impossible to run away from the history, because every day, every year brings us back to the memory of the terrible events of the Second World War.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art of the capital on the eve of Victory Day opened thematic exhibition «They Fought for the Motherland», which include 59 works created from 1943 to 2010, represent the great artistic and historical value. They are 27 paintings, 23 graphic sheets, 5 sculptures and reproductions of posters of the war period.

The exhibits step by step display all the events of the war. From the first days the art came on the line. Posters of Irakli Toidze «The Motherland Calls!»(«Родина — мать зовет! «), «Our deed is right — victory will be on our side» («Наше дело правое — победа будет за нами») of Vasilii Serov and «Mercilessly crush and destroy of the enemy!» («Беспощадно разгромим и уничтожим врага!») of Kukryniksov demonstrate that artists from the early days of the war carried artistic combat watch.

The work of the People’s Artist of the Kazakh SSR and the soldier Nikolay Gayev «Ballad of Panfilov» tells the story of the Battle for Moscow in the autumn and winter of 1941, when the myth of the invincibility of Hitler’s army was dispelled.
In his etchings «For us Moscow» («За нами Москва»), «Glory to the fallen heroes»(«Слава павшим героям») and «In the Name of Life»(«Во имя жизни») Nicholay Gayev showed immortal feat of Kazakh soldiers.

About two million of Kazakh on a par with other fraternal peoples on all fronts of the war defended the freedom and independence of the Motherland. Every second soldier from Kazakhstan forever remained on the battlefields and the heroes of the Soviet Union became 500 soldiers. On the exhibition was displayed their portraits. They are «Guerilla» («Kasym») of Amanzhol Musalimov and «Guerrilla-Siberian"of honored Artist of the RSFSR Yuri Neroda. This included our own reconnaissance People’s Hero of Kazakhstan Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev, who together with the Russian soldier Gregory Bulatov first hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. The exhibition presents his portrait, which called «Hero of Reichstag’s assault Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev» of Vasilii Timofeev and legendary Kazakh girls, the heroes of the Soviet Union Aliya and Manshuk from the honored public figure of Kazakhstan Bakhytzhan Abishev.

Military equipment, ammunition, clothing and food continuously flow to the front of Kazakhstan. The hardships of the war period fell on the shoulders of women, children and the elderly, all those who due to war was in the rear. It was reflected on the paintings like «Evacuation, 1941» («June 1941») of Victor Saenko, in the lithographs of Kadyrbek Kametov «Everything for the front», «Farewell» and «Letter from the front» from the series «Women of Kazakhstan in the rear», created in 1984.

Almost all works of that period are historical documents, authentic eyewitness. They were created on suffers and during the lull between battles and memory based on extant drawings, sketches and diaries.

Photos by Alena Demchenko