Insights | Soviet veteran descendants' visit to China strenthens bond forged in fight against fascism

By Zhang Dongfang

(ECNS) -- The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War, and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Ivan Mamsik joined the Soviet army in 1942and was sent to the Far Eastern Front to fight against Japan’s Kwantung Army. Tragically, he died in a combat around  a week before Japanese army’s defeat and surrender, and subsequently his family lost contact with him for more than seven decades.

It wasn’t until 2017 that Mamsik's son Ivan and his grandson Yuri learned about his heroic story from a local newspaper, on which the Russian Defense Ministry published an appeal, looking for relatives of fallen soldiers.

The Mamsik family was later invited to attend the opening ceremony of a memorial to the fallen Soviet and Mongolian soldiers in Zhangbei County, North China’s Hebei Province, where the soldier died. His story stands as a testament to the shared memories of China and Russia in fighting against fascism.