Minute of Silence (Russian: Минута молчания) was a joint radio and TV program in the Soviet Union broadcast on at 6:00 pm on May 9, the day of the victory of the Soviet Union in the second world war. It was first broadcast on Soviet Central Television in 1965, 20 years after the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. Aside from the minute of silence itself the main part of the program was a solemn address, commonly known as The Minute of Silence, dedicated to all those who fell fighting the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
The idea of the program was suggested by Irana Kazakova. Other people of the team who produced the first version were Ekaterina Tarkhanova, Svetlana Volodina, Arkadi Revenko, Mesyatsev, Khazanov, Levitskaya, and other people assistants, artists, musical editors, etc. [1]
The program was started with the announcement "Attention, Moscow's listening and watching!" by the Soviet radio voice Yuri Levitan, famous for his announcements during World War II. The very "minute of silence" was sounded with the toll of the Moscow Kremlin bells. The address was initially narrated by a well-known Soviet radio commenter and actress Vera Enyutina. The TV version was showing the flame on the background of a wall with the text "To the Memory of the Fallen." Due to its solemnity the address was informally known as "the prayer". [1]
After Enyutina emigrated to the United States the address was narrated by Levitan later by Igor Kirillov.[2] The text of the address was modified during the Brezhnev stagnation by Galina Shergova and Yevgeny Sinitsyn, under the orders of the management. In particular, a piece about Malaya Zemlya was inserted (removed after Leonid Brezhnev's death in the May 9, 1983 broadcast). [1]
Russia's Channel One and other networks (like Russia 1) still broadcast this special program today.