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Immortal Regiment Of Chicago Honors Russian World War II Veterans


Nathan Firestone (second from left) and his daughter, Marilyn Rothschild (left) take part in the Immortal Regiment Chicago procession in Palatine. (Photos by Igor Studenkov)

In Russian culture, when a person passes away, it is customary to say “vechnaya pamyat.”

While it literally means “eternal memory,” the colloquial meaning is more along the lines of “may the memory of that person live on forever.”

This sentiment is why families who trace their roots to Russia and other former Soviet republics  gathered in Palatine last Sunday (May 5) to hold the Immortal Regiment procession at the Palatine Park District Community Center outdoor practice field. They carried portraits of the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who fought in the Soviet army during World War II and didn’t live to see this day.

Immortal Regiment Chicago procession begins the march Sunday at the Palatine Park District Community Center.

In much of the former Soviet Union, May 9 is celebrated as the end of World War II in Europe, a time to remember those who fought and those who perished. While veterans have usually been part of the May 9 observances, as more and more veterans died of natural causes processions like this became a way to carry on their legacy.

The Immortal Regiment of Chicago was started in 2016 by Anna Troshina of Palatine. Originally held in Des Plaines’ Lake Park, it moved to Palatine in 2018. It has been attracting attendees not just from the Chicago area, but from parts of downstate Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

While this type of procession has been held at various Victory Day parades since the 1980s, it didn’t become an organized, recurring movement until 2011 when three journalists from the city of Tomsk — Sergey Lapenkov, Sergey Kolotovskin and Igor Dmitriyev — wanted to do something to ensure that veterans who couldn’t attend the parade still had a presence. During the 2012 Victory Day parade, around 6,000 Tomsk residents took part. Because of the size of the crowd, it became known as the Immortal Regiment.

Since then, Immortal Regiment processions took place all over Russia, several other former Soviet countries and other countries with Russian immigrant communities.

Troshina told the Journal that she got involved almost by accident. Around February 2016, she was thinking about how, even though the Chicago area has a large Russian community and many World War II veterans, there wasn’t anything to honor those veterans’ contributions. She created a Facebook page where she posted writings on the topic. Then, around April of that year, Troshina was approached by one of the organizers involved with the New York City’s Immortal Regiment, who offered to help her organize a procession in Chicago.

Istochnik military reenactors group takes part in the Immortal Regiment.

Not wanting to pass this by, she reached out to her friends — Alyona Toropov and Natalia Dagenhart — who scrambled to put something together. The trio attended Des Plaines’ Holy Virgin Protection Orthodox Cathedral, and, with the help of the rest of the congregation, they were able to raise money to print posters and obtain permits to use Lake Park. Troshina said that they chose the park because it was a nice-looking space and because it had a veterans memorial.

She said that around 100 people took part in the 2016 procession. The following year, the number more than doubled. But in 2018, they hit an unexpected snag.

“They didn’t allow it for the third year,” Troshina said. “Honestly, I think it might have been political.”

She said that the Des Plaines Park District’s official reason was that the crowds were getting too big.

Troshina said they tried 13 other suburbs, including Wheeling and Buffalo Grove, which have sizable Russian communities, to no avail. Feeling depressed and at the end of their rope, she approached the Palatine Park District.

“We are very thankful to [park district theater coordinator] Jeff Green, because last year, we thought that was the end, nobody would allow us [to do it] anymore,” Troshina said.

Elena Gurevich and her son, Nikolay Gurevich, attend the Immortal Regiment Chicago procession with portraits of family members who served in World War II in Russia.

They wound up gaining permission to use the stadium for the procession itself and Cutting Hall for the post-procession concert. Troshina said that she found Cutting Hall to be a great performance venue, and she appreciated that the stadium had bleachers where the older participants could sit.

This time around, Troshina estimated that around 500-600 people attended. That number included somery veterans, as well as families of those whose loved ones went missing in action, families of Holocaust survivors and those who survived Nazi prison camps. And, this time around, members of Istochnik (the source), a group of military reenactors who portray Russian soldiers, took part in the event.

While some members are Russian or have Russian roots, others were non-Russians who were simply interested in Russian military history, particularly Russia’s role in World War II.

“In United States, the plight of the Soviet people [during the war] is criminally under-reported,” said Zachary Williams of Lansing.

One of the Russian-American members, Luka Maxim of Chicago, whose father immigrated from Russia, said that he joined the group because he was interested in Russian history and inspired by his great-grandfather’s service.

“I definitely feel that a lot of people in America don’t know about the war [on the Russian front] and how many people were killed,” Maxim said.

The organizers said they welcomed American World War II veterans and their families to the event. This year, Dagenhart invited Nathan Firestone, a former pilot from Highland Park who flew 27 missions before being shut down. His daughter, Marilyn Rothschild, said that he was captured and escaped prison with two other soldiers.

The procession began at the stadium bleachers and made a full circuit around the track, holding up photos and singing World War II-era Soviet songs. Afterwards, the participants were invited for what turned out to be an almost two-hour concert that featured songs, dances and poetry accompanied by video projected in the background. Toward the end, all of the veterans in the audience received flowers. Troshina gave the lion’s share of the credit to Dagenhart and Toropov for putting the show together.

Rothschild said that while her father didn’t understand the Russian-language parts, he enjoyed himself.

“[It had] such good singing and dancing — it was really nice,” she said.

Katerina Sky of Grayslake has been taking part in the Immortal Regiment with her family for the past three years, and she said she continues to be impressed.

“Every year, it just gets better and better,” she said.

Dasha Malishiva of Schaumburg has been volunteering for various Russian-American World War II activities for the past five years, but this was the first time participating in the Immortal Regiment.

“It was great,” she said. “The only thing is, and I heard other people say it, is that the concert might have gone on for a little too long.”

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