The public of St. Petersburg opposes the privatization of Victory Park and asks the authorities to build a temple there

The Public Foundation for the Protection of Victory Park in St. Petersburg once again called on the city authorities to cancel the order to privatize Victory Park and build a memorial church in its place. "The public of the city intends to defend this holy place of tragedy, sorrow and memory of the victims of the siege of Leningrad," they said in a statement.

The authors of the document consider it necessary "to stop the process of privatization of the park and make a decision to build a memorial church in memory of the buried Leningraders, in which the victims of the blockade will be eternally commemorated."

At the end of January 2009, the administration of the governor of St. Petersburg announced that Victory Park would not be privatized. “We are only talking about changing the state enterprise (GUP Moscow Victory Park) to the form of a joint-stock company, the only shareholder of which will be the state,” the press service of Valentina Matviyenko said in a statement.

At the same time, representatives of the Association of War Heroes and Veterans again turned to V. Matvienko with a request to build a temple-monument to the victims of the blockade.

Sources

• Blockade survivors protest against the privatization of Victory Park in St. Petersburg and ask to build a memorial church here // Interfax-religion. 2009. January 19.
• Petersburg Mayor’s Office promises not to privatize or build up Victory Park to blockade survivors // There. 2009. January 29.
• War veterans and blockade survivors again appealed to the governor of St. Petersburg with a request to build a temple-monument to the victims of the blockade // There. 2009. January 29.