There is a tradition, spanning many years now, that the Jews of St. Petersburg gather on the first Sunday of October near the “Fomula of Sorrow” memorial (former Tsarskoye Selo) to honor the memory of their compatriots, who were shot in October 1941 in this small occupied town and its famous parks.

This year, the day was cloudy and cold; nonetheless, approximately 150 people gathered near the Formula of Sorrow. Among those who spoke from the granite pedestal of the memorial were: former prisoner of the Mohilev ghetto, painter Leonid Simanovskiy; Director of the St. Petersburg Jewish Community Center Alexander Frenkel, Consul General of Israel Eduard Shapira, and representatives of local authorities, ethnic communities and city schools. Songs and poems were sung and read both in Yiddish and Russian. Cantor Baruch Finkelstein read the funeral prayer “El male rachamim.” As always, the each of the children and the adults alike placed a small stone at the bronze base of the memorial - a small, personal act of remembrance.