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A Chronicle of the Time of Victories

The exhibition “The Time of Victories” opened in May at the Excursion-Exhibition Centre “The People’s House” is greatly interesting for the visitors from different parts of Russia and abroad. Visiting the exposition we can completely evaluate the meaning of the main events of the two decades in the life of the country and learn more about the fighting and labour deeds of the Soviet people.

The exhibition tells about the events of 1941-1961. Just these two decades reflected many fateful moments of our country’s life. It was a time of heroism and courage, a time of victories of our people. The exhibits tell about the heroism of the Soviet soldiers and labourers in the rear, about a difficult way to the victory in the most bloody war of the XX^th century, about the selfless labour during the restoration of the country destroyed by the war, about the victory of the Soviet science, which conquered the space and on April, 12, 1961, let a Soviet man make a space flight.

The documents, photographs, newspapers, articles of everyday life take us back to the 40-60-s of the previons century. The exposition opens with stairs: walking up the stairs we “reread” old newspaper headlines, which clearly reflect the atmosphere of “the time of victories”. Entering the first hall we realize the horror experienced by the peaceful people on the first days of the Great Patriotic war, when bombardments started. The hall ceiling for some moments turns into a screen displaying shadows of German planes, our hearts sink from bomb howling and exploding. The voice of the People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov announces about the beginning of the war. On the wall there is a black “plate” of a radio-set, by which the country learned the dreadful news in the afternoon of June, 22, 1941. A boy is looking through the window at the Red Army machine-gun nests…

The screen displays endless lists of 13000 soldiers called up for the front from the land of Vyoshenskaya. Every third of them perished in the battle field. The photographs of the war time, documents of the leading district offices written on sheets of an ordinary account book, specimens of the armament of those years show us the roads of the Great Patriotic war. We can learn about the battlefield life of the infantry division number 197, which defended the country of Vyoshenskaya, about the guerrilla warfare and a labour feat of the rear.

In the war years M.A. Sholokhov was a war correspondent for the Sovinformbureau newspapers “Pravda” and “Krasnaya Zvezda”. He donated his State Prize he was conferred for his novel “And Quiet Flows the Don” for the Country Defence Fund, then he bought for the front four new rocket launchers for his own means.

One of the exposition sections tells about the life and work of the writer in the war years. For his participation in the Great Patriotic war colonel Sholokhov was awarded with the Order of the Patriotic War of the First Degree, medals “For Defending Moscow”, “For Defending Stalingrad”, “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, “The Twentieth Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War”.

The victory was gained at the high cost. The battlers, as well as the people living now in the Sholokhov District, did their best to bring the victory nearer. We see their names on the screen. There goes the address of I.V. Stalin to the people on May, 9, 1945, and the hall is lit up with a sparkling victory firework.

We come into another hall, which exposition tells about the postwar time. On the walls there are posters calling for doing one’s best to restore the ruined economy. On the screen we can see newsreel fragments of the film journal “News of the Day” of the 50-60-s, telling about the achievements of the Soviet people in science and technology. Ordinary everyday articles, curious for young people, take the older visitors back into the old kind times.

The country was reviving, and the apotheosis of the glorious twenty years’ time was space conquering. This event is told about not only by the photographs, but also by the most unique exhibit – a hatchway cap of the landing apparatus of the “Vostok” spaceship, in which Y.A. Gagarin made his first flight. This object for the first time left the Scientific-Industrial Union “Energia” in the town of Korolyov, and was delivered to Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya especially for the exhibition “The Time of Victories”.

While looking into the exposition the visitors of “the People’s House” “page”  the history of their native country, learn new facts about the events of the famous twenty years.

The exhibition is open at the Excursion-Exhibition centre “The People’s House” till October, 25, 2010.

It is open from 9.00 till 16.00. The booking-office stops working 45 minutes before closing the exposition.

Elena Iliyichova