Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –
Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –
The main idea of the exhibition is to introduce students and teachers of NSU to unique and warm stories that were born during the years of student conscription into the army on the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day.
Preparations for organizing the memorial exhibition began last summer. The staff Museum of the History of NSU together with interested students Humanitarian Institute of NSUletters, photographs and telegrams were selected, and data on where exactly the students served in those years was systematized. One of the schoolgirls from Lyceum No. 130 of Akademgorodok also took part in this work.
— This exhibition tells about the 1980s, when our students began to be called up en masse for military service. If you look at the statistics, before the 1980s, individual students were sent to the army, mainly from the Humanities Faculty, where there was no military department, and after receiving their diplomas. Since 1984, they began to recruit students from all faculties where the guys studied full-time, — says Lidiya Vorobtsova, director of the NSU History Museum.
NSU was fundamentally different from other universities in its attitude towards those guys who were called up. If we take the statistics of the call-up, then almost 96% of all servicemen returned to study at NSU: in the 1980s, 2110 students were called up, and 2013 of them returned after service to complete their studies at NSU, that is, almost all. If we take the statistics of other universities in the country, then on average about 70% of guys returned.
— Credit should be given to those who were in charge of communication with our students. Evgeniya Vasilyevna Ulyanova headed this headquarters, which gathered active girls and the remaining guys from the groups from which students were called up, so that the connection with those who left would not be broken. They wrote letters, sent photos, talked about their lives and even sent textbooks and manuals. In addition, there were propaganda teams, which included guys from NSU humor clubs, they went to military units. In response, good news and gratitude came from their places of service that the called up guys were not forgotten, not crossed out from the ranks of NSU students, — adds Lidiya Vorobtsova.
The exhibition presents letters, postcards, telegrams from places of service, clippings from photo albums, among them are the faces of young boys, in whom one can recognize current professors and teachers of NSU. As well as military uniforms of that time from the collection of the Integral Museum-Apartment of the History of Akademgorodok.
Many of those who served in the army in the 80s as students now work at the university and in the research institutes of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. They shared their memories of that time with us, and told us how their military service influenced their future lives and professional activities.
— I joined the army in 1984, when NSU drafted about 70-80% of all the guys studying in different faculties after the second year. We spent a long time, 2-3 days for sure, at the distribution point, then traveled for a long time to our place of service by train. We didn’t know where we were being taken. When we crossed the entire country, got to Murmansk and didn’t stop there, our mood began to fall, and we had only one thought: “Where should we go, the border is coming soon.” When the railway ended, we finally stopped. Our place of service was the village of Pechenga on the Kola Peninsula. We go to the bathhouse — the sun is standing, we leave the bathhouse — everything is the same, over our heads, it goes in circles all day and doesn’t set. That’s how we ended up behind the Arctic Circle in the conditions of the polar day and night, — recalls his years of service in the army Evgeny Sagaydak, head of the education export department at NSU and a graduate. Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of NSU.
Evgeny Ivanovich ended up in a specialized mountain motorized rifle battalion, where the guys were taught literally everything, including how to shoot any small arms that existed at the time. I remember the moments of the evening roll call, when they went on duty. As a rule, this happened at eight o’clock in the evening. The soldiers had a sign: when they saw the Northern Lights on a polar night, it meant that the night would be cold and the next day too.
— Some of the warmest memories from the years of service in the army were communication with the university. We wrote, and they wrote to us. The management sent the newspaper “University Life”, for various holidays — postcards and appliques, and New Year’s greetings were especially significant – each postcard had the real signature of the NSU rector. That is, at one point, stacks of these postcards were brought to his reception room, and he signed each one by hand, — Evgeny Sagaydak shares his memories.
The period of military service became a good school of life for the guys.
— The ability to communicate, the ability to stand up for yourself and rely on your own strength, on your closest friends and colleagues. Over two years of service, you matured, understood what life is, what you really want to do next. That is why 96% of all conscript students returned to study, because they wanted to study further, wanted to learn new things and did it successfully, — emphasizes Evgeniy Sagaydak.
Naimjon Ibragimov, graduate Faculty of Economics, NSU 1990 and deputy dean of the Faculty of Economics of NSU, served in the Chita region, in the village of Olovyanny-3, in the strategic missile forces.
— Far from home, we, Novosibirsk students, were united by something greater. Even when we served in different units and met by chance only at training camps, smiles never left our faces, we encouraged each other, shared news. I remember that every month in the unit we were given 13 rubles. We always wanted something sweet, so we went to the soldiers’ buffet, or “chipok” in other words, bought waffles and accidentally met our own, which made it even more pleasant.
I remember the physical and volitional loads that were much easier for the students from the dormitory than for those who lived at home during their studies. We were already adapted to strict timings, when, for example, we had to have breakfast or lunch very quickly in order to then complete strategic tasks or run to another unit.
The university skills that we managed to acquire helped us quickly expand our circle of acquaintances and find a common language with the unit’s leadership, so first the Physics and Mathematics School, and then the first and second years allowed us to cope with the difficulties of army life quite quickly and successfully, and quickly find solutions in difficult situations, says Naimdzhon Ibragimov.
Naimdzhon Mulaboevich also notes that the university was distinguished by its attitude towards students who ended up in the army. None of the guys from other universities who served in his unit received letters of support.
— It was the uniqueness of NSU that gave rise to a feeling of pride for our university. I express my gratitude to the university and the teachers who supported us with regular letters so that we felt that the university was waiting for us.
Pavel Logachev, graduate Physics Department of NSU 1989, Director of the INP SB RAS, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, graduated from the Physics and Mathematics School with almost excellent marks, he solved all the problems of the entrance exams to the universities where a deferment from military service was provided (at Moscow State University and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology), so he could choose any of them. However, he deliberately did not go to Moscow.
— When I entered Novosibirsk University in 1982, I understood perfectly well that I would be drafted into the army in 1984. I planned to work at the Institute of Nuclear Physics — and nowhere else. To do this, I needed to study at the Physics Department of NSU.
After the first two courses, I was drafted into the army. I served for a short time – only two days and two nights – polar. Time flew by, the army experience I gained was also important and interesting. I do not regret that I honestly gave these two years to the country. We served in the north of the Murmansk region, not far from the border with Norway, in a regular motorized rifle regiment. However, the regiment was fully staffed and had a large number. We regularly had combat exercises, so we learned to shoot from the weapons assigned to us and honed our skills in various training sessions.
As for learning, of course, any experience requires constant practice. If you don’t do something, skills are lost, but they can be restored later.
I would like to thank the university separately for the informal, but very important and effective work it did with the students who had gone into the army, and they were the majority. The remaining boys and girls regularly wrote us letters, told us about life at the university and sent us fresh issues of the newspaper “University Life”. This was extremely important for us. Moreover, during the two years of service, delegations from NSU came to us three times. The visiting students told us what was happening at the university and reminded us that we were expected there. I do not know anyone from those with whom I served who did not return to the university after the army. Everyone continued their studies and completed them, – Pavel Logachev shares his memories.
The staff of the NSU History Museum would like to thank Svetlana Dovgal, Director of the NSU Career Development Center, Elena Krasilova, Head of the Department of Youth Policy and Educational Work, and Anastasia Bliznyuk, Director of the Integral Museum-Apartment of the History of Akademgorodok, for their assistance in organizing the exhibition.
You can immerse yourself in archival data, read warm letters and view the exhibition until February 28 in the light window near auditorium 2322 (3rd block, Pirogova St., 1).
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