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Karghin School Named after M.A.Sholokhov is 55

55 years ago, on January 10, 1964, a new school was opened in Stanitsa Karghinskaya. The school was constructed on the money of the Lenin Prize won by M.A.Sholokhov for his novel “Virgin Soil Upturned”. In 2003, the school was named after the writer.

By the end of the 1950s, the Karghin students had been studying in three old buildings constructed late in the XIX century. In 1960, M.A.Sholokhov visited D.S.Polyansky, Chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers, to discuss the necessity of building a new school and sent a telegram to Karghin residents:

“On coming to my native country I am glad to inform my dear villagers that the construction of a new school in Stanitsa Karghinskaya according to the resolution of the RSFSR Council of Ministers will start this year. The Lenin Prize won by me is transferred entirely for construction a new school instead of that I attended long ago to learn reading and writing. My best regards to all the residents of Karghin. Yours, Mikhail Sholokhov”.

The new school opened its doors to the young residents of the stanitsa in January 1964. It was a real holiday.

Before the school opening ceremony, the Karghin countrymen visited Sholokhov and thanked him for his assistance in the construction. Mikhail Alexandrovich joked in answer: “I gave only a button, and a coat for it was made by the Soviet Power”.

The meeting with the writer was joined by Tatyana Andreyevna Kotova, an old teacher, Valentin Vasilyevich Firsov, school director, Konstantin Dmitriyevich Babansky, director of the state farm “Karghinsky”, Ivan Mikhailovich Maksayev, one of the old villagers, Valery Ivanovich Sobolev, deputy of the village council, school students Viktor Firsov and Olya Bokova. The students asked the writer-countryman to make an autograph for the school on the books “And Quiet Flows the Don” and “Virgin Soil Upturned”. Now the books are presented in the school museum, and the photos, newspapers and memories about that warm meeting and the school opening ceremony are kept in the collection of the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve.

On January 13, 1964, near the new school, there was held a meeting, where the district and local authorities, school students and villagers spoke and were sent

the heartiest regards from M.A.Sholokhov wishing the students great success in their study.

55 years have passed since then. The primary students have become grandparents, but they still remember and gladly tell about that event, and the current students are proud of living in Stanitsa Karghinskaya and studying at school named after M.A.Sholokhov.

Pyotr Donskov
Natalya Donskova