Graduates
Beslan, North Ossetia, 2012-2014

The children who were held hostage in a Beslan school ten years ago are already graduating from high school. Many are leaving to study in Moscow or St. Petersburg. All of them remember that September.
'Some people come here to ask about the terrorist attack-many come for that, like journalists. They make reports about the fact that here we are, such heroes, living after the attack. And somehow we are able to find happiness in life. They always talk about the same thing. But anyone would be able to live. Life just goes on and we cannot change what already happened to us. Just the opposite: Now it is more pleasant to look at how we laugh, have fun and enjoy life.'

Hostages were taken at School No. 1 in Beslan, North Ossetia, on the morning of Sept. 1, 2004, during a ceremony held to inaugurate the new academic year. For two and a half days, the terrorists held more than 1,100 people-including children, their parents and school staff-in a building filled with explosives. At least 334 hostages were killed as a result of the crisis, including 186 children, with a significant number of people injured and reported missing.