Zverev first flew to Norilsk to check… legendary Zavenyagin’s (the Norilsk combine’s second director after Vladimir Matveyev) work. The prospective fourth head turned 30 in 1940.
In 1940, Avraamy Zavenyagin offered the member of the inspection commission to stay in Norilsk as deputy for production, but Zverev did not immediately agree. The decision was made for him by the higher authorities.

The chief engineer of the Norilsk combine, Vladimir Zverev, could have replaced Zavenyagin, who had been recalled to Moscow before the war, but the latter chose his deputy for the Dudinka port, Alexander Panyukov. So Zverev became the fourth director.

According to the main author of the Norilsk biography, Anatoly Lvov, when it comes to the construction of the first stage of the plant (according to the Zavenyagin plan), the number one person in this work was undoubtedly Vladimir Zverev:
“Starting with supporting the idea of the possibilities of developing the Norilsk-1 deposit in an open-cut way and the obligation of a full technological cycle for obtaining metals and ending with the launch of the forge-and-thermal shop of the Mechanical plant, Zverev strove to precisely follow the planned course”.
Under Zverev, Norilsk received the status of a city. The head of the combine devoted a lot of time to the development of physical culture and sports and even chaired the local Dynamo sports society. But was not very fond of theater, unfortunately.
After Norilsk, the former head of the combine worked in the famous Ministry of Medium Machine Building, where he was responsible for ensuring the operation of military and civilian reactors.
November 13 is the 110th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Zverev, a Norilsk resident from 1940 to 1954.
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Text: Varvara Sosnovskaya, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive