On March 13th 2005 the fifth military-historical festival "Karelian Borders. Kollasjärvi" was held on the territory of the historical-memorial complex "Kollasjärvi", about 30 km from the town of Suojärvi.

The place was chosen not accidentally. Here during the Second World War three times took place active military clashes – in 1939-40, 1941 and 1944. The remnants of the Soviet and Finnish field lines, Graves of the fallen and memorial sighs remind of those events.

The participants of the festival paid the tribute to the fallen by the minute of silence and brought the flowers to the monuments of the military glory.

The guests of the festival were presented the military ammunition and light armament of the times of the Winter War 1939-1940 and information about military action near Kollasjärvi.

The main event of the festival became the military-historical reconstruction, presented by the clubs of the military history enthusiasts from Petrozavodsk and St-Petersburg. The true ammunition and arms together with the pyrotechnic effects and impressive battle scenes made historic interpretation nearly real.

After the "battle" the quests tried the "soldiers porridge" from the field kitchen, took part in the sporting events, checked their marksmanship at the shooting-range and listened to the war-time songs, presented by the chorus of war veterans near the warm fire.

Nearly two thousands people visited "Kollasjärvi" at this day, not only from Karelia, but also from Leningrad region, St-Petersburg, Moscow and Finland.

The "Karelian Borders. Kollasjärvi" festival has opend the Parade of the military-history festivals, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the great Victory.

The event was organized by the local administration of Suojärvi region and the State Centre for Protection and Management of Historic and Cultural Monuments.

Elena Balykova. Elina Taroeva
The State Centre for Protection and Management
of Historic and Cultural Monuments