Friendship roads lead to Dubna
The Festival opened in the Scientists’ Club by watching the feature film "Forward, Trabi!" (Germany, 1991) from the JINR Film Union. A leisurely family trip on an old “Trabant 601” from a small town near Leipzig to Naples along the route described in I. Goethe's travel diary and quoted in the film, quickly becomes overgrown with adventures and unexpected plot twists. Anticipating the screening, the founder of the JINR Film Union Alexander Madumarov said that this innovative film by Peter Timm, one of the first created in the united Germany, accurately reflected the mood that reigned in those years in the country. "Trabant" is a whole era that began in the 1950s. It was the most common model, became an iconic car for a period. Having lost its position after a couple of decades, it became a topic for jokes (it is not for nothing that the owner of “Trabant” sighs bitterly in the film that inevitably had to listen to 118 jokes about his favorite on the road). After the unification of Germany, the car regained popularity, becoming a symbol of a bygone era. The film caused a warm reaction from the audience. And connoisseurs and lovers of the car itself shared the details of their long trips on the “Trabant”, talked about the features of its structure and functioning.
The Festival's second day event – “Dubna on wheels: a bicycle reserve and an automotive international” - included scheduled performances and an open microphone. Director of the JINR Museum of History of Science and Technology Anastasia Zlotnikova began her message with a story about the Czechoslovak travelers I. Ganzelka and M. Zikmund that in 1947 traveled to Europe, Africa and South America in a car “Tatra” on their first trip. On their next trip, they visited the countries of Southeast Asia and the USSR, traveling from the Far East through the Central Asian Republics, the Urals and Kazan to Moscow. This expedition was organized by the Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia and travelers communicated with Soviet leaders, the representatives of different walks of life. On their own initiative, they visited JINR, met with Director of the Institute D. I. Blokhintsev and Vice‑Director I. Ulegla, about which there was an entry in the book of honorary visitors and publication in the newspaper "For Communism" (No. 87, 1964). Here are their impressions, "Of all 76 countries that we have traveled to so far, only at you we have found a creative environment in which the ideas, talents, efforts of many countries are united into one powerful stream aimed at knowing the essence of the world in which we all want to live."
Anastasia confirmed the claim that the bicycle became an unofficial symbol of the city and an organic part of the landscape with fragments from four films of the Central Studio of Documentary Films about Dubna, released from 1958 to 1971, and a selection of photographs with young and adult Dubna cyclists. She also showed cartoons on B. M. Pontecorvo on a bicycle made in DLNP for his anniversary, mentioning that his tricks on a bicycle are described in every second memory of a scientist. D. I. Blokhintsev often rode to work on a bicycle, folding his hands on his chest and not touching the steering wheel.
In 1957, on account of the contribution of Czechoslovakia to the JINR budget, the first cars “Tatra 603” arrived at the Auto Farm. Then there were the “Tatras 613” that regularly served the Institute until the 1990s. Often on the streets of the city one could see majestic “ZISs”, “ZIMs”, "Chaykas" bringing high‑level guests from Moscow.
According to one of the organizers of the Festival, an engineer at VBLHEP Leonid Zinoviev that has been passionate about automotive topics since childhood, in the USSR, foreign cars could only be seen in Moscow. Dubna was an exception when Czechoslovak cars appeared here and later, the car service “Tatra”, the only one in the Soviet Union. According to Leonid, several cars of this brand operated by the KGB in Moscow were serviced in it. Some JINR employees came from Eastern Europe in their cars manufactured in the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania. For many years, they decorated the streets of Dubna. Leonid showed a photo of the re-animobile "Tatra" that served for ten years in the "ambulance" of the city. This experimental sample was obtained from an exhibition in Moscow only because “Tatra-service” functioned in Dubna. In Dubna, in those years, it was possible to buy motorcycles and mopeds of any model.
Jurgen Schreiber (Germany) spoke about his "Trabant‑601" which he arrived on in Dubna in the distant 1970s and about traveling on it in the USSR. "My “Trabant” was not only a companion for me, he was a faithful friend," Jurgen emphasized. "Let the Festival help scientists from different countries to return to friendly relations."
Igor Blokhintsev and Antonio Pontecorvo shared their family stories related to the bicycle and car. Oleg Nazarov presented the history of children's cycling, accompanied by photography and the display of individual rare copies. The bike "Malysh" began to be produced in the 1960s, there were still "Veterok" and "Babochka", according to the speaker, the best bike of all time. The bicycle “Druzhok”, designed in the design bureau of the M. V. Khrunichev plant, where rocket and space products were produced, stands out from the series in its appearance and design solutions. Some listeners that remembered their childhood also shared their stories. The Museum employee Kirill Kozubsky spoke about the legendary bicycle races of A. V. Strelkov and colleagues from FLNP for a dispute at the DLNP site.
On the third day of the Festival, the opening of the installation - the monument “Trabantu” - was in front of the JINR Museum of History of Science and Technology. The monument was the restored "Trabant 601" in blue with a station wagon. "This car is a symbol of the era for Dubna", Museum Director A. E. Zlotnikova said. “On it, families of scientists from the GDR with things and pets came to our city to live and work here. Many GDR cars moved along the streets of Dubna. We are opening a monument not just to a car, but to people who “Trabant” was a guide for to the JINR international family. I hope it will become a point of attraction for all residents of the city and tourists. Leonid Zinoviev and Evgeny Danilov made a lot of efforts to preserve this machine for history, to restore and to give it a second life."
Jurgen Schreiber got emotional. “This car is my old love, I want to kiss it! "Trabant" still is in my heart and now, it is beating harder. This car proved that the result of engineering and people's thrift lives forever and inspires us for the future." This car once ran through the streets of our city because its owner worked in FLNR and has survived to this day by some miracle. Evgeny Danilov said that it is very interesting to restore retro cars, you have to figure out why the engineers made this or that decision. "Then there were no car services and every car enthusiast himself eliminated any breakdown. In "Trabant" everything is thought out to the smallest detail, it is simple and so convenient. Look, it is smiling at us!" JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov and Chief Scientific Secretary Sergey Nedelko at the wheel of the car evaluated its design and quality of restoration.
And on Joliot-Curie Square, a black “Tatra 613” was already waiting for passengers. In Czechoslovakia, the production of these executive‑class cars was only a few dozen per year and JINR received 20 copies. "Tatra is a symbol of JINR," L. Zinoviev stated. “It is incredible but the plant offered to supply them to the Institute and the first ten copies arrived already in 1957. In the 1970s and 1980s, car historians came to Dubna having learned that the cars of this brand are in service." The families of Slovak employees of the Institute, present among the guests, were especially proud.
A. Zlotnikova invited Grigory Trubnikov to drive to the Cultural Centre “Mir” to open an exhibition of retro cars. Before getting behind the wheel, JINR Director said, "In two days, on 1 September, I will have a small anniversary - 30 years since I have arrived in Dubna. It was then customary to meet guests at large conferences at the airport by car with an accompanying person. So, in 1996 and 1997, I met Atlanta Vasiliev that was responsible for accelerators and thermonuclear research at the USSR State Committee for the Use of Atomic Energy and Academician Nodar Amoglobeli. Nodar Sardionovich, like me, was engaged in basketball, was a master of sports and we all the way discussed with him the game of basketball players of the national teams of Russia and Georgia. I remember that." All the rest moved to the Cultural Centre “Mir” in a column on retro‑bicycles.
Opening the exhibition of retro cars, A. Zlotnikova stated that "it is not so much about cars as about people who came to Dubna to study science, brought with them part of their cultural traditions. Dubna has become a kind of reserve of the Eastern European automobile industry." The exhibition brought together "Trabants", "Wartburgs", "Barkasy" and an IFA truck - produced by the GDR, "Tatra" and "Skoda" produced by Czechoslovakia, the French "Citroen", "Pobeda" of the 1950s, "Volga" with a deer on the hood and other products of the Gorky Automobile Plant, as well as different models "Moskvich", "Zaporozhtsev" and "Zhiguli". More than 30 cars from Moscow and the Region, Dubna filled the space around the Cultural Centre, some copies came from the Yaroslavl and Novgorod Regions.
On behalf of JINR, Director of the Institute Grigory Trubnikov greeted the participants and guests of the exhibition. "Scientists love to go to the mountains, to dive, to travel by car," he said. “And any theoretical physicist will explain the cause of the car breakdown and the experimenter will bring his car to perfection. I take off my hat to the organizers of the Festival and its participants, thanks to everyone who came to us!" He added that the owner of "Tatra", which he drove on, works as a tester at the Dmitrovsky training ground and today, is testing "Auruses". A. Zlotnikova expressed gratitude to the employees of the Chief Scientific Secretary Office and SIM Office, without whose help this Festival would hardly have been held and invited everyone to participate in an interesting cultural and mass programme.
Jurgen Schreiber was also able to drive his favorite “Trabant”. "I was very pleased to participate in this Festival. A lot of work has been done - it was necessary to prepare everything, to assemble cars. Well done, I'm delighted! This is probably my last trip to Dubna because next year, I will be 80 years old."
The holiday was enjoyed not only by Dubna residents, but also by the passengers of three motor ships that had parked. The Festival ended with a demonstration of the film "Forward, Trabi! 2" in the original language.
A. Zlotnikova told about how the idea of the Festival came about and how it was implemented.
"The idea came up in May. Leonid Zinoviev showed me a photograph of "Trabant" that stood at his summer cottage, told its story who it belonged to. We found out that this employee worked from the GDR in FLNR. We knew that for several decades, the beautiful representative Czechoslovak “Tatras” served Directorate. In the archive of the Institute, I raised correspondence with the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of Czechoslovakia and studied documents that reflected in detail the history of relations - the supply of cars “Tatra 603”, spare parts, training of mechanics, proposals for improving the car, talked with employees of the Automobile Farm and veterans. Gradually, the overall picture of the event began to develop.
We decided to restore “Trabant” with a professional specializing in the restoration of retromachines Evgeny Danilov. It took him two months. Head of the Club of the History of Technology of the GDR Sergey Orlov and Leonid Zinoviev ensured the participation of retro cars, selecting the necessary brands and models, coordinating their arrival, arrangement. We were looking for Polish, Romanian cars of the 1950s and 1980s but here we were unsuccessful. Not all retro cars were able to come - someone had an urgent business trip, so ZIM could not come to us, the second ZIM broke down at the last moment but we managed to widely imagine Soviet cars of that time. And also, motorcycles, mopeds, including Slovak L. Zinoviev. Several families of Slovaks approached him, got into a conversation, one girl has a father working at a factory that produces these mopeds. They were happy to take pictures at the banner with the historical photograph of "Tatra".
We realized that we cannot and we do not want to avoid the topic of bicycles, especially since we also have foreign models. They found one of B. Pontecorvo's bicycles from the fifth owner. Miraculously, they found the original orange tires with cameras made in the GDR, put them on, pumped them up - everything turned out to be in order. They began to collect among the townspeople various stories about cycling. We were sent a lot of photos, we talked with veterans - this is how the concept of a lecture on Dubna's autoveloistory and a free microphone arose so that you can share your stories. They came up with a small bike ride of the participants on their retro-bicycles - from the museum to Joliot-Curie Square and to the Cultural Centre and then exhibit them at the monument to V.P. Dzhelepov and B.M. Pontecorvo. There we organized cosplay: one person gets up with a Kama bicycle, like Pontecorvo's, the second holds a briefcase, like Dzhelepov's. Of course, we included in the programme classes with children within the framework of the Club of Future Scientists at the museum: they learned how the engine works, why we need seat belts, made cars, arranged crash tests - all this under a physical "sauce". We found a film about "Trabant", the second part in German was kept on disk by Loni, we included two film screenings with a discussion in the programme. The Museum has a club of intellectual games, so we prepared the game "What? Where? When?" on the automotive topic, in which more than 30 polymaths participated.
Through a German colleague at VBLHEP, we went to Jurgen Schreiber, he got the idea of participating in the Festival, "With pleasure! I love Dubna so much, I love "Trabant" so much!" He found old photos with his travels from Dubna in the USSR on “Trabant”, got to us through Kaliningrad and of course, became a participant in the opening of the monument. He brought us some missing parts. Interestingly, "Trabant" is not on the move, he was brought to the museum by a tow truck produced by the GDR "Barkas" - a participant in the Festival.
Regarding the banner with "Tatra". I always liked this historical photograph, I didn't remember about it what I remembered concerning the Festival, I didn't forget about it. We transferred it to a banner, a separate story, how we fought the wind, installing it and actually guarded the place at night so that the site for "Tatars" was freed and not occupied by car owners from neighboring houses. We put the car in such a way as to reproduce a historical photograph and JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov symbolically drove to the “Tatra” and opened the Festival.
The owners of retro cars participated in the Festival with enthusiasm, they are enthusiasts of car history. We had an idea to host the participants in an authentic place - the Volga camp. Many car owners returned there on Saturday, held their closing of the Festival, presented awards in nominations topically related to JINR. They were all very pleased with the Festival, they liked the city, intelligent Dubna residents, the camp that retained the atmosphere of the times of the USSR. They want to come to us annually and to invite colleagues.
A photo exhibition with pictures of old Dubna and cars and bicycles against its background aroused keen interest among residents. It was possible to find more than 200 photos in the JINR archive, personal photo albums of Dubna residents, at the Dubna forum. Systematic work on the preparation of the Festival went on for three months. I had to meet a lot of organizational issues. The Publishing Department helped us to create banners with historical photographs of automobile and bicycle Dubna, as well as printed materials for master classes. Yury Lnogradsky made a tantamaresca invented by us - a model of "Trabant" in a real size. Guests were happy to take pictures in it. Head of the Artists’ Club “Quarks‑sparks” Anastasia Zlobina painted it, as well as thematical huge puzzles with cars on Dubna streets.
The children did not depart from the "Barkas" that could be painted, by the evening, it was covered with three layers of paint. The furore was made by pedal machines. This is the only collection of rare metal pedal machines "Moskvich" in the country - the garage of Dmitry Preobrazhensky. The Institute paid for the rent of eight cars, but since Dmitry's small car broke down, he brought them to us on a large one, into which all the others of different models were already loaded. It turned out on the site more than 20 different cars, a gas station, signs, traffic lights - a fairy tale for children! According to Dmitry, compared to Moscow and other cities, we have very intelligent children: they did not crash into each other with cars, they were inferior to the opportunity to ride. He loved it here and said he would love to come again.
We also decided to organize yard and table retro games. It turned out that in the socialist countries they played essentially the same games. We organized thematic master classes, bought a mechanical game "Behind the wheel", as it turned out, it is still produced, there was a constant queue for it, both adults and children played. For musical accompaniment, 30 thematic recordings of Russian and foreign performers were selected, "live" music with retrocompositions also sounded at the Festival - Elena Chudina, the Acoustic Bank group and the People on the Moon rock group performed. The musicians specially prepared and included songs about cars in their repertoire. The music programme went with a bang.
Oleg Nazarov put in order several old bicycles and helped us to hold the cycling part of the Festival. We organized a test drive of children's and adult bicycles, including it was possible to ride a copy of the series "Brigade" on a three-wheeled adult bicycle. The Artists’ Club “Quarks-sparks” and the D. I. Blokhintsev Universal Library, the centres “RostOk” and” Lunakod” and the Dance Studio “Sharm” actively participated in the cultural and mass programme. A retro‑buffet from the cafe “Neutrino” and a souvenir shop of the company “Zveno” functioned. Schoolchildren-volunteers from the city administration provided great help in holding games and competitions - the children themselves plunged into the retroatmosphere with great pleasure. The Cultural Centre helped us with the equipment, the opening and the concert were well conducted by the deputy director of the Centre Elena Troyan and a researcher at FLNR Aniruddha Dey (India), the sound was provided by Ivan Tsvetkov. The site at the museum, including its green part, was put in order, thanks to DDISD. Of course, the preparation was complicated by the fact that in August there were many on vacation in the Institute's services but in the end, everything worked out."
A new holiday for Dubna was undoubtedly a success. Time will tell whether it will become a tradition.
Olga TARANTINA,
Photos by Igor LAPENKO, Olesya CHEPURCHENKO and Dmitry SHVETSOV