Voices of the USSR Speak For The First Time In 50 Years as Soviet Capsules Are Dug Up Around Russia
Today, is the 100th anniversary of the Revolution time capsules are being opened in Krasnodar, Kursk, Maikop, Rostov-on-Don and other Russian cities. And all of Penza is gathering for its own ceremony. On the reading the message from the past, here's Ekaterina Milenkaya.
We have waited 50 years for this event. The time has come to reveal the message of our forebears from 1967. Their message was built into the Monument of Glory in Penza's city center. The opening date is the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. Just like 50 years ago, traffic is closed off to the center. The whole city watched the capsule get buried.
Unfortunately, the footage was lost. Only pictures remain, but the solemnity of the event is apparent. In 1967 Vera Astakhova lived just steps away from the monument and by pure accident took part in the ceremony.
Vera Astakhova, Penza resident: "I was holding that beautiful heavy cold metal capsule. I really wanted to know, what was inside. At the time we didn't know".
The mystery has endured. The USSR is no more, but the letter from the Soviet Pioneers and Komsomol members remains: "We appeal to you from 1967. Listen to our voice from the middle of the Soviet century".
The extraction took several hours. Suddenly, the researchers found a tape under the layers of concrete. The tape recording was brought straight to the local radio station. But the hopes of hearing the voices of the past literally crumbled in the sound engineers' hands.
The capsules were the last hope. They were opened carefully in the MES Center.
"Right now we're opening a fifty-year-old capsule".
"Well, we got lucky. The whole letter is printed on plastic".
"Greetings, dear descendants! We extend to you spiritual unity and kinship. Your deeds have given us immortality. We live on in your hearts, In the smiles of your children, In your dreams and thoughts".
"I was terrified when I thought, I would be 66. God, I would be an old man! Now I think, I'm still not that old".
The capsules will be placed in the Museum of Regional Studies where everyone can see them. The audio will be sent to Moscow for deciphering. This means the story of the messages of the past is not yet over. Ekaterina Milenkaya, Darya Shmitkova, Andrei Novik Vesti, Penza.