#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. For Norilsk, the status of a closed city was not new. In Soviet times, everyone came here with permission documents in their hands: Komsomol vouchers or job offers.
However, even then incidents happened. For example, in the summer of 1956, gypsies suddenly raided Norilsk. A whole camp settled down in the Old Watch area and even made a wooden house on the banks of the Shchuchja river. The authorities persuaded the gypsies to leave Norilsk, but the first frosts became more effective than persuasion. As soon as it got colder, the camp moved to Dudinka.
The order of restricted entry was canceled for Norilsk in 1989, and over the next 12 years the crime situation in the city worsened. Therefore, the return of the closed city status in 2001 was met by the townspeople, rather, with joy. A year earlier, a referendum had been held in Norilsk, in which the majority of residents voted in favor of this decision.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we told that Norilsk had its own street magazine called Crocodile.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
