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Abstract: The Great Patriotic War is one of the most tragic events in the history of our country and at the same time an essential element of the national identity of the Russians. This is an event the memory of which consolidates our society, since it affected every family and is significant for the majority of the inhabitants of our country, regardless of religion, nationality and age. Awareness of the fact that the number of veterans is getting smaller, and the live, real memory of the war, based on personal recollections of the participants of the events is disappearing, led to the growth of importance of oral history as a method by which one can understand and experience wartime events and see them through the eyes of the witnesses. The desire to preserve the "elusive" memory of the war today is not only a task of the state, implemented by representatives of the political elite, but also an urgent need of the society. The article is devoted to the project "Living History. 70 years of the Great Victory ", realized by the students and employees of the Ural State Pedagogical University. As part of the project during 2013-2014 a unique series of 40-minute documentary films was created based on the memoirs of the Urals residents on the history of the Great Patriotic War: the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, Kursk, national heroism on the formation of the Urals Volunteer Tank Corps and the liberation of Belarus. Placed on the site of the project "Living History" and available for free download, the movies contribute to the formation and preservation of the collective memory of the Great Patriotic War and perform a commemorative function.