‘A holiday uniting generations’: TAIF-NK representatives participate in Victory Day celebration
9 May was solemnly celebrated in Nizhnekamsk. On this occasion, a rally and festive parade took place near the Victory Monument. Thousands of citizens and guests of the city came to pay tribute to the memory of soldiers and express their respect for veterans and home front workers. Workers of TAIF-NK JSC traditionally laid flowers to the Eternal Flame. On the holiday’s eve, the oil workers had visited veteran Panfil Pavlov they care about. This year, the war veteran has celebrated his 97th birthday.
“You are a real role model for us”
97-year-old veteran of the Great Patriotic War Panfil Pavlov welcomed the workers of TAIF-NK JSC in a festive mood, orders and medals were shining on the chest of his jacket. According to the veteran, representatives of the enterprise are always welcome in his house.
“How do you do, Mr Pavlov? Let me express words of sincere gratitude for your contribution to the Great Victory on behalf of the management and staff of TAIF-NK joint-stock company. It is a great honour for us. You are a real role model for us and for future generations, an example of courage, bravery and love for the Homeland. Let me thank you from the bottom of my heart and, of course, wish you strong health and many years of life for you and your family,” aide to the director general of TAIF-NK JSC in general affairs Vladiimir Gatunok said when handing over presents.
TAIF-NK JSC has been caring about Panfil Pavlov for many years. During the year, the company has provided the veteran with the necessary assistance. By the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the enterprise renovated the flat the veteran lives in. Workers hung wallpaper, installed a stretch ceiling, renovated the bathroom and the toilet, replaced plumbing fixtures, the floor and improved the balcony, purchased necessary interior items. This year, on the request of his relatives, the company bought a medical bed for bedridden people for the veteran. According to his youngest daughter Tatiana Ivanova, it will be much easier to care about the dad who hardly walks now.
“Many thanks for the help, support, attention and care. It is very pleasant,” the veteran’s daughter thanked the guests.
Panfil Pavlov was born to a big family of peasants in Osha village, Sheremetyevo (Nizhnekamsk) District. His father returned from WWI as 3rd category disabled person. 15-year-old Panfil helped him with everything — harnessed a horse, distributed mail and milk in 30-litre churns. In November 1943, he ended up in the front as a 17-year-old boy. He served as a telegraph worker of the Rifle Regiment of the Far Eastern Front. He participated in the Soviet-Japanese War, the defeat of the Kwantung Army.
“I remember how we went to the front. We were gathered and sent to Mongolia in heated freight wagons. It is freight wagons repurposed to transport people or horses. There was nothing to drink. I ran to get water with my comrade at one of the stations. On our way back, the patrol arrested us, placed in a cold wagon until all circumstances were clarified. I caught pneumonia there, received treatment at hospital for a long time then. Even if I was in the war for just several months, I had the time to experience fear,” Panfil Pavlov remembers. His comrade once died in front of his eyes. “The Japanese constantly provoked us, lied in wait, laid ambushes,” says the war veteran.
Panfil Pavlov welcomed the victory in Ussuriysk. He admits that 9 May is the main holiday for him. “We all started to rejoice, shouted ‘Victory!’, threw our hats, somebody danced after learning about the victory. It was such a joy,” the war veteran says without hiding emotions.
Panfil Pavlov was back home only in 1950 as staff sergeant. He worked as tractor driver at the farm in the countryside. In 1953, he married a girl from his village Maria. She worked in the Sheremetyevo timber enterprise. 11 years later, the Pavlovs family moved to Nizhnekamsk that was under construction. Mr Pavlov worked as a driver all his life, his spouse was an accountant at SMU-6. They have lived 60 years together, brought up two daughters. Panfil Pavlov was awarded the order of the Patriotic War, medals For Combat Merits, For Victory over Japan, For Honest Labour. In Honour of V. Lenin’s 100th Birthday Anniversary, For Distinguished Labour and gratitude of Supreme Commander Stalin.
Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten
Representatives of TAIF-NK JSC participated in the celebration of the 78th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War on 9 May. Key festivities took place near the Victory Monument. Veterans, home front workers, children of war came to pay tribute to the memory of homeland defenders who were killed.
A themed prologue “Waltz leading to the Victory” opened the event. Students, children’s performance groups presented a touching dance dedicated to the fight of the Soviet people against fascist assaulters. Head of Nizhnekamsk Municipal District, Mayor of Nizhnekamsk Ramil Mullin delivered his congratulatory works for the participants in the festivity.
“No matter how many years have passed since May 1945, we will always remember that war. On this great day, I want to sincerely congratulate everybody who carried the Victory on their shoulders, those who worked in the home front and every person who remembers and feels pride, those who appreciate peace and is ready to work for the better future. The victory in May 1945 defended our right to live, work, bring up children and grandchildren,” Ramil Mullin noted in his speech. “Today I want to congratulate our defenders participating in the special military operation. You are fighting for the future of your homeland. Thanks to your fathers and mothers who have brought up such sons of the Homeland. Thanks to your families, spouses who believe in you and wait for you with hope and prayers. Today we are bowing our heads in memory of everybody whose lives were bereft by the Great Patriotic War, we are bowing our heads in front of our soldiers who died bravely in the fight for the Homeland.”
Tatarstan Minister of Economy Midkhat Shagiakhmetov delivered a speech in front of the audience. He read Tatarstan Rais Rustam Minnikhanov’s address.
“On this nationwide holiday, we bow down to the feat of the multiethnic Soviet people who gave future generations a peaceful life and freedom. The Victory cost very experience. 700,000 people went to the front from the republic alone, half of them didn’t come back. The memory about them is etched in their descendants’ hearts forever. Special words of respect for home front workers who moulded the weapon of the Victory near machine tools in factories, who worked in farm fields and designed bureaus, hospital doctors who treated injured soldiers, art workers who lifted our defenders’ morale up. Fewer veterans and witness of that terrifying war are left among us year after year. Hence, the honour and respect for every alive veteran are greater. And today winners’ grandsons and great-grandsons are again addressing threats and challenges of the time, defending the historical truth in the fight against neo-Nazism, protecting our Homeland with honour. I am sure that Victory Day will stay an unquestionable moral benchmark for us we and all further generations will go by in their actions and steps,” he wrote.
After congratulations and wartime songs, 78 white pigeons — symbols of cleanliness and peace — went up to the sky. Representatives of TAIF-NK JSC together with rally participants paid tribute to the memory of dead soldiers with a minute of silence and laid flowers to the bed of the Victory Monument.
“Dear veterans of the Great Patriotic War, home front workers. On behalf of the staff of TAIF-NK JSC and me personally, let me congratulate you on Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War. On this solemn day, we sincerely thank everybody who fought in the front and in the rear during the years of tough military challenges, revived the country in the aftermath. Our fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers are among them. And even though the Great Patriotic War and our people’s Victory stay far from us in time, we still remember those trials and feel proud for the peace and freedom they gave us. They stay in younger generations and allow us moving forward. I sincerely wish you and your nearest and dearest a strong health, happiness and well-being, a peaceful sky above our heads,” Director General of TAIF-NK JSC Maxim Novikov congratulated the veterans, home front workers and children of war.