Miranda OGANEZOVA

On Victory Day over Fascism, Georgian schoolchildren and adults visited Lilia Zerekidze, a 100-year-old veteran and resident of Leningrad during the siege, and heard her story firsthand.

Lilia Leonidovna Zerekidze is a living example of courage and incredible strength. She spent her childhood in Leningrad during the siege. Despite all the hardships of the war, Lilia Leonidovna remained an extraordinarily kind person, maintaining incredible resilience and optimism.

We recently congratulated her on her centenary. And two months later, we visited her again.

The meeting, held in the format of an open dialogue, was initiated by the organization GeorgiaPress. The children, who will visit St. Petersburg this summer as part of the "Train of Memory" project, were delighted to meet the veteran.

The schoolchildren congratulated her on the anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and asked her to tell them about her hometown, inquiring about the places they should visit first.

Lilia Leonidovna greeted the guests warmly and eagerly answered questions about her wartime childhood. At the end of the meeting, she recited the romantic poem "Mtsyri" from memory, recalling how several decades ago she came to Georgia and fell in love with the country.