Category: Russia

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

University youth have always played a key role in preserving historical memory and perpetuating the feat of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Students and staff of the Student City were no exception – they actively participated in university events dedicated to the anniversary of the Great Victory. In an effort to preserve the memory of the Student City’s contribution during the war, the united student council of the SPbPU dormitories initiated its own projects aimed at education and preserving the historical heritage.

Information stands telling about the role of students during the war were placed in all the dormitories and hotels of the Student City. These stands became not only a tribute to memory, but also an opportunity for new generations of students to touch the pages of the past. Particular attention was paid to memorial sites – ceremonial flower-laying ceremonies were held at the dormitories on Lesnaya Street, as well as at the “Blockade Well” on Nepokorennykh Avenue.

In addition, a series of videos was prepared for social networks, revealing the heroism of those who lived in dormitories during the war years. Thanks to living testimonies, archives and photographs, we can understand at what incredible cost in the conditions of war students continued to study and live.

The beginning of the war

From the recollections of Flight Research Institute student Zalman Reznikov-Levit: June 22, 1941. A clear, gentle, sunny day. The student campus “on Flyugov” was quiet. An examination session was underway. Everyone was sitting with their notes, preparing to take the next exam. The session was coming to an end. I was preparing “Electric Drive”, which was due tomorrow, Monday, June 23. The morning was clear and calm. Suddenly the radio announced that at 12 o’clock the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, Comrade V. M. Molotov, would speak on the radio. I felt anxious… For the next day, a table was set up in the student campus on the street opposite the canteen near building No. 5, where the registration of volunteers for the student division of the people’s militia began. The registration of those wishing to participate lasted for several days. There were a lot of people around the registration tables, a crush, noise.

Simultaneously with the announcement of the attack of Nazi Germany on our country, the People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. M. Molotov read the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the mobilization of persons born between 1905 and 1918 into the Red Army. As the director of the Student City Iraida Grigoryevna Otto recalled, military tables were organized in the premises of the factory-kitchen on a voluntary basis. The staff of the Student City delivered summonses to persons who had to appear at the recruiting stations. The administration also created self-defense groups in the Student City with the help of public organizations. They consisted mainly of women and children aged 12 to 17. The duties of the participants in these groups, in addition to regular duty, included sealing windows with paper tape, filling sandbags, and keeping watch in the attics.

Student City Buildings

Student canteen #6, located in the third dormitory, was transferred to the hospital. The hospital’s service personnel were housed in part of the second academic building. In the first days of the war, the V and VI buildings of the Student City were occupied by an evacuation hospital. As TVN worker P. Fomin recalls, it was there that he was treated for his wounds. 85% of the glass in the building had been replaced with plywood, the heating no longer worked, and there was no water. Due to the lack of fuel, the heat supply to the Student City buildings ceased, and the remaining students heated their rooms with temporary shelters. On December 31, 1941, due to improper use of a “potbelly stove”, the IV building caught fire. A third of the building burned down, and two fires that occurred in January completely destroyed the IV building of the Student City.

The commander of the 7th company was a career firefighter A. Kudryavtsev, and the political instructor was a polytechnic student Valentin Vernitsky. The platoon headquarters was located in the Red Corner of the first building of the Student City on Lesnoy, 65. From September 11, the entire regiment was transferred to barracks. As student Vera Sharova recalls, the female firefighters lived in two rooms on the fifth floor of the first building of the Student City, and the guys lived with the company leadership in the basement of a building on the corner of Lesnoy Prospekt and 1st Murinsky. Every day, the platoon fighters gathered at the command post, from where they went on patrol.

In addition, a tank regiment was located in the Student City. It stayed in the main building for only 12 days, after which it was transferred to the VII Corps of the Student City, located at 14 Pribytkovskaya Street. This street no longer exists. It is built up with houses, including the institute’s dormitories. Regular scheduled classes had effectively ceased by November 1941 due to the small number of groups. Lectures were often held in the apartments of teachers or in student dormitories.

Before the war, flowers and seedlings were grown on the territory of the Polytechnic. So by the summer of 1941, gardeners had everything ready for growing flowers. But the war messed up their plans. It was too late to start planting vegetables; they were planted in the spring. Gardening was transformed into a subsidiary farm of the institute, and its staff increased. Already from mid-July 1942, the institute’s employees were harvesting.

Victory Day

Two o’clock in the morning. The dormitory was quiet, almost everyone was asleep. But as soon as the radio announced the capitulation of Nazi Germany, all the students and teachers were on their feet. The corridors began to stir, people congratulated each other, kissed each other. Songs thundered throughout the corridor, – a quote from the newspaper “Polytechnic” from May 16, 1945.

After the announcement of Victory at 2:20 a.m. a rally was organized, after which dancing and singing began. The fun continued until six o’clock in the morning.

By the way, the restoration of the Polytechnic buildings began in the summer of 1944. Workshop No. 1 was tasked with repairing the metal roof of the first and second academic buildings, and then the Main Building and the dormitories on Lesnoy. Special teams were created, which were joined by students arriving from evacuation.

This page of the history of the Great Patriotic War is forever inscribed in the fate of the university and the Student City, becoming a symbol of the contribution to the education of a strong, courageous generation of defenders of the Motherland.

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.