#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. On the eve of the New Year, we will share them. Today these are the memories of the Kiriyenko spouses, metallurgists evacuated to Norilsk from Monchegorsk.
“The winter of 1941–1942 in Norilsk was not cold, but snowy and stormy. Our residential village of Gorstroy (the new part of Norilsk – editor.), its five two-story houses, located on the current territory of the city, was separated from the factory village by a ridge of growing snowdrifts. We made our way to work only on foot, and food and fuel were brought to us on sleighs pulled by small, furry, for some reason very angry Yakut horses. Snow protection at that time had not yet reached perfection, and in some cases horses performed the only possible transport service.
There was a snowstorm on New Year’s Eve. We celebrated the holiday with our friends – Lyudmila Lobik and Anatoly Busko. They lived in Sotsgorod (the old part of the city – editor.). It seemed to be not far from Gorstroy, but the path in the darkness and continuous snow haze along the ridges of snowdrifts seemed very long. For some reason there was no light in Sotsgorod, and we celebrated the New Year by candlelight.
The table was set, there was a Christmas tree. For the holiday, we were given extra rations, Christmas tree decorations were sold, and at that time there were still a lot of fir trees growing around Norilsk. Even on the Zub mountain’s slopes there were dark groups of trees, and below, near lakes and streams, there were sizable spruce forests.
It was warm and cozy near the tree. The conversation flowed easily. By that time, the painful days of the most brutal defeats had already passed, and the victories of the Red Army near Moscow, Rostov, and Tihvin revived us all.
However, we neither danced nor sang. The bitterness of the deserted Monchegorsk memories was still felt, and the thoughts of the surrendered Leningrad, where our relatives remained, were disturbing. It was the first war winter. But we still perked up and felt better that New Year’s Eve.
We returned home with the wind, quickly and easily. We just had to follow the direction – the road was still not illuminated. And, in fact, there was no road: countless snowdrifts stretched across.
At home, having shaken the snow out of our clothes, we continued to discuss our situation and made predictions about the future. Something came true later, a lot – did not happen, as always happened before and after, but that New Year, our first one in Norilsk, in evacuation, is always remembered every time on the evening of December 31 …”
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we told about why the name of Nikolay Urvantsev appears in the bard Alexander Gorodnitsky’s poems.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
