Welcome to... The Children of Beslan Home page,

Imagine living in a small town and waking up to the realization that 186 of the local children were gone. It started on September 1st 2004 and lasted until September 3rd 2004. Then on September 4, 2004 when residents of Beslan Russia awoke to the continuing nightmare of the massacre at School Number One. The siege was over, but the devastation was just beginning to set in for more than 45,000 citizens whose worst fears had been realized by the 32 Chechen separatists with their guns and bombs.

For nine year-old Timur Kasumova who had climbed over severed limbs and run to a blown out window of the school’s gymnasium, hoping all the while that neither the terrorists nor the Russian army would shoot him; the world would never be the same. For the surviving residents of Beslan, the same remains true to this day and forever.

The attack began on the first day of the new school year, a happy occasion for Russian families when parents pack snacks and children bring balloons and flowers to give to their teachers and one another. On Sept. 1, parents and children had gathered in the courtyard of School No. 1, a century-old brick building set back from the road, to join the traditional festivities. The celebration lasted only a few minutes. By the early afternoon of the 3rd of September, after three days of living hell, 344 people lay dead—more than half of them children. more...