I’m happy with my fate. Many times I was saved from death, suffered humiliation, stayed hungry, spent hundreds of sleepless nights. And that’s all I have endured for the sake of the homeland. And the protection of the homeland – it is the duty of each of us. I do not take offense at the Germans, who tortured me many times, but this is understandable, I fought against them. But I am deeply offended by the Soviet authorities. They said that I sold my homeland, they put traitor’s stigma on me and sent to die. For what? I have always been loyal to my country and the state, citizen of which I was and for what I was fighting.

Village Vourgavan is in the south of the Kashatagh region of Artsakh, approximately 40 kilometers from Berdzor. The village was liberated during the Karabakh war, in 1993.
The villagers say that a soldier from Sissian Vourg Voskanyan near Kashatagh first visited this village, then went to the northern regions and was killed in the village of Vakounis. After that, the village was named in his honor – Vourgavan.

On May 9, Armenian servicemen took part in the parade on the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. 72 soldiers and officers marched through Red Square, reminding the world about the role of the Armenian nation to victory, providing the level of preparedness of the armed forces of the current Armenian state.

Recently I visited the village of Khachen-Daget of Tetritskaro district in Georgia, where I spent my childhood. On my return, in the neighboring village Samshvildo I met my old friend, Ashot Kamalyan, who was once a rural teacher. He invited me to his home, and when we parted, handed me an old folder and said: “Please take, here are a few letters of soldiers-villagers who went to the front and died. These letters my parents and relatives have kept, and then gave me. And now I give them to you, and I ask – take them to Yerevan and read. If you find something interesting, publish in any newspaper. This way you do holy work to the memory of our fallen soldiers.”

History shows that Armenians fought back Gallipoli army, and this glorious victory was important not only for us, the Armenians, but for halting the advance of the Turks, contributing to the collapse of their madcap plans. And we must celebrate with great fanfare all the victorious battles that had momentous importance for the Armenian people. We need to raise the spirit of the nation, especially the youth. Architect Rafael Israelyan said – when Armenian will understand that he is an Armenian, the whole world would be his.

After the Second World War, many prisoners remained in the USSR. Their labor was used for the reconstruction of what they used to destroy.
On the territory of Armenia there were 10-13 POW camps in Yerevan, Kirovakan, Leninakan, Spitak… They built houses, roads (Victory Bridge, the building of the Sevan mental hospital, stadium “Dynamo”, Aluminum Plant).

Samshvilde – is one of the six Armenian villages of Tetritskaro district in Georgia, founded by the end of the 18th century by migrants from the village of Kanaker from Western Armenia. Before the Great Patriotic War in Samshvilde there were already 2000 residents. For 4 years of war 200 people were recruited from the village, 107 from them did not return from the war.