On June 20, 2025, the opening ceremony of the Republican Youth Patriotic Forum "Citadel of Memory" was held at the Ceremonial Square of the Brest Hero Fortress Memorial Complex.

The forum was attended by over 190 students and pupils from 26 universities and colleges of Belarus, as well as 24 Russian universities - from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Ulyanovsk, Novgorod, Belgorod, Penza, Yakutsk and other cities. They laid flowers at the Eternal Flame in the Brest Fortress, honored the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland with a minute of silence.

Among the honored guests of the event are member of the Council of the Republic, director of the Memorial Complex "Brest Fortress Hero" Alexander Aleksandrovich Korkotadze, chairman of the Brest City Council of Deputies Andrei Andreevich Filanovich, Rector of the Brest State Technical University Sergei Antonovich Kasperovich, Vice-Rector for youth policy and educational activities of the Pskov State University Svetlana Nikolaevna Vodneva.

The "Citadel of Memory" forum is being held for the second time on the initiative of the Brest State Technical University with the support of the Ministry of Education and the Brest City Executive Committee.

An extensive cultural and educational program has been prepared for the participants. During their three-day stay in Brest, forum guests will be able to take part in a quest tour of the Brest Fortress, attend an evening of poetry and bard songs "And the saved world remembers ..." and a reconstruction of the pre-war day "Peaceful evening on Sovetskaya".

On the night of June 22, the forum participants will take part in the patriotic requiem concert "Be worthy of the memory of the fallen!", and in the morning they will become spectators of the military-historical reconstruction of the defense of the Brest Fortress.

As part of the forum, the participants will also present their projects in several nominations:

• Best research work "FEAT OF THE WINNING HEROES", dedicated to the feat of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War (work with archival documents, search for new facts of the heroism of the defenders of the Fatherland);
• Best architectural project "HEROES OF VICTORY" - a project for the development of small architectural forms, monuments, monuments to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War;
• Best essay "DEFENSE OF THE MOTHERLAND IS DEFENSE OF YOUR DIGNITY" - essay competition;
• Video competition “LIVING CHRONICLE OF WAR” – filming videos about the work to perpetuate the memory of those killed in the Great Patriotic War.