When I think of Beslan, I think of Volodya — the first person I interviewed there 15 years ago.
On Sept. 1, 2004, a group of three dozen Chechen-led armed militants took more than 1,100 local residents hostage at Beslan School #1, located in Russia’s North Caucasus. Demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya, they put the hostages — most of them women and children — through hell for 52 hours, abusing them, denying them food and water, and killing several before Russian troops stormed the school. The death toll was 323 hostages, including 186 children. Most were killed during the storming. Volodya’s wife, Zina, and their 10-year-old daughter, Madina, were among them.
