#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In 1944, the American newspaper New York Herald Tribune published an article entitled Russians are Building a Nickel Empire in Northern Siberia. Remarkably, it was stated that the author, correspondent Maurice Hindus, transmitted it, “radioing from Norilsk”.
In general, the article by Maurice Hindus, by the way, an American with Russian roots, was quite objective, without unnecessary sensationalism. The only serious mistake was the replacement of the pioneers Sotnikov and Urvantsev with “geologist Vorontsov and his companion”. But in 1944, Urvantsev was still a prisoner of Norillag, and Sotnikov had been shot long ago, so their names were banned, and therefore the error is understandable.
A copy of the article was sent to Norilsk from Washington by Norilsk resident Sergey Bocharnikov, who was in the United States on a business trip in 1944–1945, selecting equipment for the Big concentrating plant of the Norilsk combine. Bocharnikov attached Zavenyagin’s request to the article: to find out whether correspondent Maurice Hindus really was in Norilsk.
And really, how could an American get here in wartime and radio anything from here? Norilsk writer-researcher Mikhail Vazhnov later began to solve this riddle. He suggested two versions. First: Hindus, who was friends with the head of the military department of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, could fly to Norilsk with him on a military plane, literally for a few hours. The version is dubious, because if an American had slipped into Norilsk undetected, then after the publication of the article the fact of the violation would have become obvious and both of them would have been hit. In Stalin’s time, such an act amounted to espionage.
Therefore, the second version seems more likely: in Norilsk it was not the American himself, but a citizen of the USSR who officially, with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NKVD, collaborated with Hindus. So the first visit of a foreigner to Norilsk was most likely virtual.
At one time, this story was described by the chief engineer of the Norilsk combine, Vladimir Daryalsky, in the brochure Norilsk – 25 Years, and by the writer Georgy Kublitsky in the book “… and the Northern Ocean”, and by the journalist Anatoly Lvov. Quotations from Hindus’s note were also given, but it was never published in full. Below is the full text of this article.
New York Herald Tribune
Maurice Hindus. Norilsk. THE USSR. September 29, 1944.
The Russians are building a nickel empire in Northern Siberia.
Norilsk is a city of parks, factories and schools, erected in a desert.
Not many Americans have heard of Norilsk, but for Russians Norilsk is a symbol of the triumph of man over the North nature. For some time now, this thriving industrial center, the largest of its kind, has been supplying military factories with invaluable metallurgical supplies.
Norilsk is a city of small huts and giant factories. A railway line connects it with Dudinka, a port on the Yenisey, 75 miles to the west. Regular air service to Krasnoyarsk, a thousand miles to the south, is the closest link to the Trans-Siberian railway. Telephone communication with Moscow and Krasnoyarsk is constant.
Norilsk has several small parks, a permanent theater, an electric power plant, a football stadium, dance halls, cinema halls and lecture halls. There is a secondary school and a metallurgical school. At first, due to severe weather, 67 days off work were allowed during the winter. Now, in view of new ways to overcome the harsh climate, only seven non-working days are allowed.
The history of Norilsk is a demonstration of the tenacity with which Russia advanced civilization to the Far North. In 1919, geologist Professor Vorontsov and his companion were the first to come to the site of the future city. They explored the snow-covered mountains. And the further they went, the more excited they became. There was nickel, a lot of nickel – one of the largest deposits in the world. Side by side with nickel were copper, graphite and many base metals.
These untold riches were locked in the territory of eternal frost. Very few people lived in this region. Hunters sometimes roamed the tundra. It was also rare for fishermen to go out onto its sparkling lakes. It was a huge desert.
Moscow reacted energetically and quickly. A migration flow was immediately organized. Food and building materials accompanied the settlers. Houses, shops and laboratories rose in the once barren tundra. Construction of a large nickel plant began.
When the war broke out, the need for nickel became so desperate that even more settlers and more engineers were sent to Norilsk. Nickel production soon began, and it was sent to the Ural and Siberian defense plants. Now the construction of the Big metallurgical plant is almost completed.
Over time, mine shafts went deep into the mountains and the ore was lifted up by forklifts. And recently, engineers have begun to blast the surface of mountains, reaching depths of 260 feet, in which case the ore is mined by open-pit mining. This method has proven to be more economical.
Norilsk grows more and more its own vegetables, thanks to the 24-hour non-setting sun during the short summer, the plants grow quickly. Tomatoes and cabbage are too watery. But agronomists hope to reduce water content with new fertilizers.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we told about the village of Imangda, one of the most remote settlements around Norilsk.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
