TASS, May 6. The ‘Immortal Regiment’ event was for the first time held in Zambia on Saturday. The event was organized by Russian compatriots in the capital of Lusaka. According to Yulia Kuznetsova, Russian language teacher at the Russian Center for Science and Culture (RCSC) in Lusaka, the event gathered about 60 people and half of them were local citizens who are graduated from Russian universities or interested in the Russian culture.

In Zambian capital the Immortal Regiment’ was held in a form of an exhibition. The members of the local Russian community brought portraits of the World War 2 veterans to the Russian center’s yard where they were exhibited. Despite the fact that the Victory Day in Lusaka is celebrated regularly, an event of this format was held for the first time.

"This was due to the fact that this year the Russian center moved to a new and more convenient place. So far we still have to do repairs here, but today we have started celebrating the holiday," Kuznetsova told TASS center.

By the Day of Victory, representatives of the Russian community prepared portraits of their veterans, arranging an exhibition in the courtyard of the center.

The ‘Immortal Regiment’

On the Victory Day, which is marked on May 9, the workers of the RCSC plan to arrange a screening of ‘Sobibor,’ a war drama directed by Russian renowned actor Konstantin Khabensky.

The ‘Immortal Regiment’ march is an annual event held throughout Russia and in other countries. The event is dedicated to the victory in Great Patriotic War (or WWII) that claimed lives of about 28 million Soviet people, both soldiers and civilians. During the march, people carry portraits of their relatives who fought or died during the war. The idea was born in the Russian Siberian city of Tyumen in 2007. Since 2015 the ‘Immortal Regiment’ march has become nationwide.

‘Sobibor’ highlights an uprising of inmates at the death camp of the same name in the territory of the Nazi-occupied Poland and tells the story of Red Army officer Alexander Pechersky (1990-1990), who led the uprising. The movie depicts the rebellion and prior events.