Gorbachev Street will be renamed into Albert Likhanov Street

An evening in memory of an outstanding teacher and writer was held in Moscow

On September 13, 2022, a memorial evening was held in the capital’s Russian Humanitarian Library in honor of the teacher, writer, advocate for the interests of children Albert Likhanov. At the memorial event, Likhanov’s son promised to continue the work begun by his father and told what efforts are being made to perpetuate the memory of the “knight of childhood”.

“If not for covid, my father lived to this day. And we would celebrate not in this hall, but in our dacha, ”Dmitry Albertovich Likhanov began the meeting with such sad words. And shared a touching memory:

– My friend told me that he once walked with his father in the country and asked him how he imagines paradise. Father said: “I can’t imagine myself well, because I don’t understand how you can do nothing.” That was all he was!

When Likhanov died (this happened on December 21 last year), Dmitry Albertovich did not, in his words, “sit and grieve”, but took on the burden of public work:

— Many responsibilities fell on me, including dealing with three children’s funds. It was necessary to do something so that the name of the father remained in the memory of as many people as possible. And I made a plan to perpetuate the memory.

As a result, a public vote has already been held in Kirov to rename Vasily Gorbachev Street to Likhanov Street. The school where Likhanov studied will bear his name, plus a museum will be created in his native city – in the house where Albert Anatolyevich was born.

“In recent years, we have been especially close,” admitted Likhanov’s son. “There were many conversations that I now take as a spiritual mandate.”

Likhanov Jr. and his like-minded people also created an appeal to the Presidential Administration with a proposal to erect a monument to Albert Likhanov in Moscow, name a capital street in his honor this time and include works in the school curriculum.

There is no doubt that Vladimir Vladimirovich will approve all or part of the proposals. Firstly, the “Child Protection Fund” founded by Likhanov was created by Putin’s decree, and secondly, the writer’s merits are really significant.

So Senator Konstantin Kosachev says that Likhanov was a “knight of childhood”, and the peak of his public activity came in the post-perestroika period and the 90s, when the authorities did not remember that “there are problems for children, that this category of citizens needs to be loved not only in the family but also in the state.

Likhanov defended those who believed him – orphans, disabled children, children in conflict with the law – all young Russians who needed help and support. Likhanov’s second battlefield was literature. His books about the difficult relationship between children and parents, moral choice, self-discovery and the bitter price of indifference became classics during his lifetime.