#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. It is known for certain that Avraamy Zavenyagin, after leaving for Moscow in April 1941, often recalled Norilsk and, as a rule, with a sense of satisfaction from what he had done there for three years. And he loved business trips to Norilsk: he wanted to see everything with his own eyes.
In the photolaboratory, created 80 years ago at the combine’s geological department, there are only a few photographs of Zavenyagin. And all of them were made when the former chief flew to Norilsk in the status of deputy people’s commissar of internal affairs.
Mainly two visits of Zavenyagin have been preserved on the film: in 1942 and 1943.
In October 1942, Avraamy Pavlovich made a historic speech on the prospects for the development of the Norilsk combine at a meeting with an asset in the House of Engineering and Technical Workers.
Of course, Zavenyagin spoke first of all about the fact that Norilsk needed to provide the defense industry with nickel as soon as possible and as much as possible. To do this, it was necessary to complete the construction of a thermal power station and the big metallurgical plant. Zavenyagin visited the construction of these objects (and not only) together with his successor Alexander Panyukov and the chief engineer of the plant Vladimir Zverev (Zavenyagin and Panyukov are in the main photo above).
In 1943, the deputy commissar flew in to distribute orders and medals to 188 Norilsk residents.
By the way, Avraamy Pavlovich himself did not receive a single award for developing Norilsk. But he remained its fan until the end of his short, but such a fruitful life.
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Text: Varvara Sosnovskaya, Photo: Nornickel polar division archive
