80 years later: Nizhnekamskneftekhim republishes the 1941 calendar and presents it to the city

War through the eyes of searchers

As soon as they crossed the threshold of the museum of Military Glory of the search party Petrochemist, the librarians found themselves in a makeshift Russian izba. Here — an old spindle, dishes, household items. In the centre of the composition, there is a clock whose hands stopped at exactly four in the morning.

A little further — a soldier's trench, a wall of chaos and hundreds of unique exhibits: personal belongings of the fallen soldiers, shells, ammunition, various types of weapons. All this the searchers found on the battlefields.

Over 16 years of work, they managed to raise thousands of unique items, discover and bury the remains of more than 800 Red Army soldiers.

“We were lucky — Nizhnekamskneftekhim helps the squad. The enterprise provides the necessary equipment, transport, which facilitates our work. Few people know that we not only raise the remains of soldiers but also find live ammunition, which we later hand over to the sappers for mine clearance," said Rafael Lutfullin, the deputy commander of the Neftekhimik search team.

Second life of the 1941 desktop calendar

Neftekhimik search team is led by a beautiful woman with a strong character — Olga Lantsova. She devotes all her free time to preserving historical memory. It was she who managed to find and buy the desk calendar of 1941 for the museum of Military Glory.

“We raise valuable exhibits, which we add to our museum. This is done so that the residents of the city come and can see everything with their own eyes. The items produced before the war or during the war are also important to us. When the chance arose to purchase the 1941 calendar, we did not miss it. The original was released in 1940, when the Soviet people did not yet know what awaited them," she said.

The Museum of Military Glory was created on the initiative of the commander of the search party Neftekhimik, Olga Lantsova. Unused objects were adapted for the future building of the museum, where redevelopment and major repairs were carried out at the expense of Nizhnekamskneftekhim. The museum was opened on June 25, 2020. Now there are halls dedicated to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, a military exhibition and a training hall for searchers.

The calendar of 1941 was placed on the same shelf with wartime newspapers. The idea to reissue it appeared on the opening day of the Museum of Military Glory. The original edition was noticed by the Director General of TAIF Group Ruslan Shigabutdinov. It was he who instructed to give the book a second life on the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The task was completed by specialists of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC and Neftekhim Media PLC, recreating its copy.

The desktop calendar of 1941 is a book of several hundred pages. It tells about the achievements in industry and agriculture, the development of education and healthcare systems, the history of the Fatherland, its heroes and plans for the coming years.

“The happiness of living without war”

In their address to the reader, Ruslan Shigabutdinov, the director general of TAIF JSC and chairperson of the board of directors of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, and Ayrat Safin, the director general of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, note:

“Dear friend! We have great respect and awe for the history of our country, we hold sacred the memory of those who gave their lives for our common peaceful future, who, sparing no effort and health, forged Victory on the home front, who raised the country from the ruins. That is why we decided to recreate the calendar of 1941 and give you the opportunity to touch the events of 80 years ago, to find out what a huge country lived and aspired to in the last peaceful New Year before the great and terrible war.”

The book will find its reader

In total, Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC published over a thousand copies, which will soon replenish the book collections of city, local and school libraries of the Nizhnekamsk Municipal District and the city of Kazan. The employees of the Central Library System of Nizhnekamsk were the first to receive the reprinted edition.

“We could have just distributed the books, but we decided to invite the librarians to the museum so that they could see the original edition firsthand and realise its value," said Elvira Dolotkazina, the assistant director general of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

The decision turned out to be right. At the end of the tour, the library staff admitted that both the museum and its exhibits, including the calendar of 1941, made a deep impression on them. And the book is sure to find its reader.

“When you listen to the story, immerse yourself in this atmosphere, look at these objects — tears come to your eyes. The calendar of 1941 will not gather dust on the shelf. We present all new books to our readers. Closer to May 9, we are holding a series of events, so we need any information. We need to convey to the citizens new facts that are not talked about in school," said Gulnaz Kurmasheva, the head of the director of the Central Library of Nizhnekamsk.

“The museum has a very rich collection. The people who work here, they support their work with heart and soul. Librarians also need to know the story to tell their readers. We are very happy that such a valuable book will be in our book collection," Gulnaz Arslanova, the director of the Central Library of Nizhnekamsk, said confidently.

At the end of the event, the museum instructors showed the guests a film and performed a song about the search movement.

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