The edition tells about the monuments of the First World War which remained in Smorgon district of Grodno region, through which territory a Russian-German front-line passed in 1915–1918. Taking into account the fact that the battle for Smorgon lasted more than 800 days, a great number of engineering military constructions, traces of communications and military burial places remained safe. Author’s photos as well as pictures from the funds of domestic archives, state museums and private collections are included into the densely illustrated edition.
During the interview V.Bogdanov informed that the album is the continuation of his photo-exhibition “Surviving 90 years and the front-line” which was exhibited for the first time in the National museum of history and culture in 2004, and later — in Brest, Grodno, Mogilyov, Nesvizh, Vileyka (both in Minsk region) and Smorgon. “The exhibition has demonstrated a huge interest in the society to this poorly known theme. What is more, no other war has left such a devastating evidence on the territory of Belarus as has the First World War”, — pointed V.Bogdanov.
The presentation of the album took place at the international conference of historians “Commemorating the 90th anniversary of the end of the defense of Smorgon”, organized by the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. “The conference participants from Holland presented a set of unique photos which reflect the war events embodied by German soldiers and officers. Many of these pictures will be used in the book I am working at now, which is about the monuments of the First World War on the territory of 30 districts of Belarus”, — said V.Bogdanov.
