St. Petersburg to erect monument to Kyrgyz woman who sheltered 150 children from blockaded Leningrad

AKIPRESS.COM - The monument to Toktogon Altybasarova of Ak-Bulak village of Kyrgyzstan will be erected in St. Petersburg. She gave shelter to 150 children from blockaded Leningrad during the World War II, Kyrgyz writer Sultan Raev said with reference to Russian poet Mikhail Sinelnikov. "I was glad to receive such news from St. Petersburg. I am moved by the recollections that our nations of the big country at that time used to be one big family. I was born in the family that survived the siege and after my birth found themselves in Central Asia. I met many gray-eyed or blue-eyed teenagers with fair hair who were adopted by local families," Sinelnikov said.
"It was a common exploit of the people in Central Asia. It would be unfair and dishonestly if it is forgotten, like memory about this truly great Kyrgyz woman," he went on saying.
The son of Toktogon Altybasarova, Marat Abdiev, told Turmush that the St. Petersburg mayor's office and public organizations initiated erection of the monument on occasion of the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
"The monument will be made in Tomsk. The design was already sent to us," Abdiev said.