Хабаровский краевой музей им. Н.. Гродекова в первые месяцы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг.

1941 Khabarovsk Krai Museum named after N. N. N. Kuznetsov. Н.. The Khabarovsk Krai Museum named after N. Grodekov, or, as it was then called, the Khabarovsk Krai Museum of Local Lore, met with a boom. One of the tasks set before it was "to turn the Khabarovsk Museum into a proving ground for all museums of the Far East...".

In 1935, the two upper halls on the third floor of the museum building were connected by a specially built superstructure, where the exposition hall of the new department of the museum - "Socialist Construction" - was located. On the second floor in three halls there were expositions of the History Department, on the first floor in two halls - expositions of the Nature Department.

The museum itself was a complex of a three-story building enclosed by a fence, with exits to Shevchenko Street and the Park of Culture and Recreation, located on an elevated bank of the Amur River. Inside the museum there were also two barns with a heater's room and two warehouses, a covered pavilion with a whale bone, a cannon battery with Russian and foreign guns of the 19th century. In front of the museum there was a large stone turtle - a monument of the Churchen era, and stone sculptures.

The staff of the museum in early 1941 consisted of 16 researchers and 15 technicians. The museum was headed by Israel Zelmanovich Teplitsky, with Maria Ivanovna Popova as his deputy for scientific work. Scientific departments were headed by: Dolma Saltyzhetepovna Tsybyktarova - history, Ivan Grigorievich Grigoriev - nature and "scientific funds" - Alexandra Georgievna Zinkevich. The department of social construction on June 14, 1941 was headed by O.A. Pakhomova.

To provide methodological assistance to the museums of Khabarovsk Krai in early 1941, visits to the Komsomolsk, Kamchatka and Blagoveshchensk museums were organized, and work was done with the Sakhalin Museum (Kamchatka, Amur and Sakhalin Oblasts were then part of the Krai).

At the Khabarovsk Krai Museum itself in 1941, it was planned to solve such an important problem for the fonds department as the installation of electric lighting in the fonds storage room, which was located in a warehouse in the courtyard of the museum. In the exposition of the Nature Department in the first half of 1941, dioramas "Cedar-Broadleaved Forest", "Mountain-Taiga Landscape", "Ussuri Taiga" and "Polar Bears of the Far East" were created. The History Department of the Khabarovsk Krai Museum planned to create new expositions in 1941: "The Russian-American Campaign" of the XVIII-XIX centuries and "The Defense of Khabarovsk". In addition, the History Department planned to start work on a book about the Khabarovsk Krai Museum in 1854 and compile a brief monograph on the past and present of Khabarovsk. In addition, in connection with the approaching 50th anniversary of the museum in 1944, the history department planned to start work on a book about the Khabarovsk Krai Museum. In May 1941 the exposition of the history department "Primitive communal system and the first states in our country" was accepted. In continuation of this work on June 8, D.S. Tsybiktarova conducted a survey of the archaeological monument in the vicinity of the village. Nikolaevka Smidovichi district of EAO Khabarovsk Krai, about which told the senior pioneer counselor Nikolaevka school Tov. Shcherba. D.S. Tsybyktarova collected and delivered to the museum 85 items of production and household utensils.

The Great Patriotic War, which began with the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR on June 22, 1941, also affected the activities of the Khabarovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore. On mobilization to the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) the museum's staff was sent. The first summons of Khabarovsk city military commission on July 1, 1941 was received by N. Konstantinov, an electrician of the museum. He was followed by the watchman Nikolai Petrovich Kolchenko (July 24), the head of the nature department Ivan Grigoriev and the driver A.M. Svinarenko (August 1), the museum artist Alexander Andreevich Kirichenko (September 9).

Some of the researchers left the museum to strengthen the city and regional organizations. On August 3, deputy director Maria Ivanovna Popova went to work in Khabarovsk City Council. On August 13, the head of the department of social construction agronomist O.I. Pakhomova was sent "to use it in her specialty" in the order of the regional land department. There were no new employees to replace them and, accordingly, Alexandra Georgievna Zinkevich was appointed acting deputy director of the museum from August 14; Nina Matveyevna Moiseenko became acting head of the Nature Department on August 8; and the Social Construction Department became a part of the History Department from August 1, 1941. D.S. Tsybiktarova remained head of the department, and senior researcher L.V. Proskurina began to work under her supervision.

In August, the chauffeur M.Z. Biryukov, the laboratory assistant of the art workshop E.A. Teplitsky and four observers were dismissed by the museum staff reduction.

Some of the museum staff volunteered for nursing courses in their spare time and worked in local hospitals. In the museum itself on July 4, a local air defense post (MPVO) was organized. L.V. Proskurina was appointed head of the post, and D.S. Tsybiktarova was appointed political officer. All employees of the museum during working hours had to take part in the work of the air defense post. They were assigned to the following units: the 1st unit of order protection, communication and surveillance (4 soldiers) under the command of Ksenia Vorivodova, the 2nd unit of fire-fighting (commander A.A. Kirichenko and 5 soldiers), the 3rd unit of sanitary (commander Moiseenko and 3 soldiers). After hours on air defense signals to the museum must be all fighters of the fire-fighting unit, from the order protection unit - fighter Buntova, from the sanitary unit Moiseenko.

Since August 20, to protect the order and property of the museum, night duty of the museum employees from 8 pm to 10 am was organized.

After the outbreak of war, the museum's staff drew up an additional work plan. In June 1941, together with the Art Museum, the History Department organized an exhibition "The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People against German Fascism" in the Khabarovsk Park of Culture and Recreation, then the album "Heroes of the Soviet Union" was designed and placed in the exhibition. In the second half of 1941, the Nature Department mounted exhibitions "PVCO" in the museum lobby and "Blood Donation and Blood Transfusion" in the Nature Hall. Much attention was paid to the organization of the collection of edible wild fruits and medicinal plants by the population in the taiga, for which purpose mass printed instructions on the collection of local medicinal plants, on the identification of areas of wild-growing berries, local limestone and clay were prepared. On the assignment of the Kray Committee of Komsomol, a list of food and medicinal plants was compiled for collection by young people. For the Department of Pharmacology of Khabarovsk Medical Institute, medicinal plants used in folk medicine were identified. 

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, some of our museum staff left for the Red Army, some - to other organizations, which led to a significant reduction in staff. The museum also joined the general system of counteraction to the enemy among the population of the region, created its own cell of local air defense (MPVO) and so on. Despite this, the museum continued to receive visitors and create new exhibitions.