Tearful celebration

Anticipating the holidays, the JINR Scientists’ Club hosted a history and literary evening dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The event was organized by the JINR Museum of History of Science and Technology and Kvadrat theatrical troupe.

“We have gathered today to remember all those who fought for our Motherland,” Museum’s Director Anastasia Zlotnikova noted in her welcome speech. Photos of Institute’s employees who served during the war, many of whom worked at JINR since the foundation, were shown to the guests on the big screen.

Museum Curator Kirill Kozubsky talked about the front line fate of Mikhail Meshcheryakov, a participant of the Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars, a founder of scientific Dubna. For the first time, excerpts from Mikhail Meshcheryakov’s letters to his relatives were read out. These letters were given to the Institute by the scientist’s niece, Galina Panteleyevna. Severe front line wounds did not prevent Mikhail Meshcheryakov from returning to his favourite work in science after getting discharged from hospital in July 1942. He started working in Kazan at the invitation of Vitaly Khlopin and returned to Leningrad after the end of the blockade.

The fate of another scientist who fought at war, an eminent theoretical physicist, Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics at JINR, author of the We Fought for Our Motherland memoir Petr Isaev was presented by the actors of the Kvadrat theatrical troupe. In the book, Petr Isaev describes the beginning of the war, the mobilisation, the first battle, the Battle of the Dnieper, the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation , and the Prague offensive with amazing accuracy and trustworthiness. Theatre’s Stage and Artistic Director Yuliana Kukarnikova based the script of the play on this piece of literature.

The theatrical play was accompanied by famous war songs, “Dark Is the Night”, “Smuglyanka”, “Victory Day”, performed by vocalist Elena Chudina, guitarist Georgy Chuburkov, and pianist Galina Dementieva.

“Spring of the forty-fifth year... the blue Danube was waiting for you! Hot, sunny May brought freedom to the peoples of Europe!”, Anastasia Zlotnikova invited her ninety-seven-year-old grandfather to dance to the sounds of the “May Waltz”. Nikolay Poroshin is a participant of the Great Patriotic War, a veteran of atomic energy and industry, whose life has been connected with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research since 1948.

The guests of the history and literary evening noted the event’s atmosphere of warmth and conviviality. It united people of different generations, reminding them of the importance of preserving historical memory and respecting the feat of their ancestors.

Kirill KOZUBSKY