81 years ago, on January 27, 1944, one of the most tragic episodes of the Great Patriotic War ended: as a result of actions of the Soviet troops, the blockade of Leningrad, which lasted almost 900 days, was completely lifted.
Many threads of memory connect Leningrad and Chelyabinsk-Tankograd, and, of course, our university. Veterans, whose lives and destinies were somehow connected with the city on the Neva River, worked and studied at the Chelyabinsk Mechanical Engineering Institute - Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute – Chelyabinsk State Technical University – South Ural State University. Among them are such famous people as the participant of the Great Patriotic War, who fought, among other things, on the Volkhov Front, Rector of the Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute Vitaliy Melnikov, and the outstanding designer, creator of armoured vehicles Nikolai Dukhov, whose sculptural portraits are installed in the foyer near the assembly hall in the Gallery in Memory of the Outstanding SUSU Scientists.
Unfortunately, less and less people, who not only defended Leningrad, but also eye-witnessed those tragic events, are alive today: even those who were children during the war have long since become grandfathers and grandmothers themselves. One of the witnesses of the blockade was Nadezhda Kuzmina (nee Semykina).
For many years, since 1998, she headed the Museum of SUSU History. Since 2014 she was the chairperson of the SUSU Council of Veterans, and in 2023 she was elected president of the Council of Veterans of the university. She was awarded the medal For Distinguished Labour, badge of the Resident of Blockaded Leningrad, jubilee medals for the 50th, 60th, 65th, 70th anniversaries of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, medal In Memory of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg, commemorative medals in honour of the 60th, 65th, 70th anniversaries of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.
Nadezhda Kuzmina made a special contribution to the important cause of preserving the memory of the Great Patriotic War and to the civic-patriotic education of young people. Many times, she shared her memories, speaking to students of various educational institutions, including SUSU students, at various patriotic events.
– I lived in blockaded Leningrad, so it is very difficult for me to speak about the war, but I can still remember a lot, says Nadezhda. – When the war began, I was still a little girl. An order was issued: all children were to be evacuated from Leningrad. On August 20, 1941, my little cousin and I were equipped, all our things were collected and we were put on a train (compartment carriages), specially put for the evacuation of Leningrad children. My father and uncle, who were brothers, saw us off. I started to cry loudly, asking to stay at home, and they took me and my sister off the train. This saved our lives: the train was bombed by German aircraft.
At first, when the Germans tried to capture Leningrad by storm, in a rush, different saboteurs and spies, in order to sow panic, spread disinformation: supposedly the city would surrender within a few hours. Moreover, the situation was extremely tense, and during shelling and bombing, the city radio was often switched off due to damage, not a single loudspeaker worked. No newspaper was published or delivered. It is difficult for those living in the information age to imagine what it was like to have no access to mass media.
I still cannot forget the howl of bombs, the whistle of flying shells during artillery shelling. But the worst thing was not even this, but the terrible hunger and cold. I remember how I walked around the apartment with a poker, rummaged under all the furniture in the hope of finding at least a scrap of food. There was no running water, so people had to go to the Neva River to take some. My mom was so weak from hunger that she could only bring one three-litre can of water: and that was for all our needs! Many people died of exhaustion right on the streets.
The huge city was besieged but stood firm for three years. It did not surrender, despite all the horrors of the blockade. History has never seen such courage!
In 1942, my mother, sister and I were evacuated along the Road of Life. We stayed in evacuation until July of 1944, and then returned to Leningrad. In 1949, my family and I moved to Chelyabinsk. After completing the tenth form at general education school No.84, I enrolled in the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (LPI). In 1961, after graduating from the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at LPI, I started working at the Department of Hydraulics (later - Hydraulics and Hydropneumatic Systems) at the Faculty of Engines, Appliances and Automation at CPI (later - Aerospace Engineering Faculty of SUSU), where I worked until 2015. I worked as the Deputy Dean of Aerospace Engineering Faculty for Discipline Activities. With my future husband, Vladimir Kuzmin, we studied at LPI at the same faculty, at the same year of enrolment, only in different specialities. In Chelyabinsk, my husband worked at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, he was a very good specialist (unfortunately, he passed away). We have two children, a son Vladimir and a daughter Elena, and four grandchildren.
I would like to take this opportunity and remind current and future students: after the war, many front-line soldiers became students of the Chelyabinsk Mechanical Engineering Institute (CMEI), and although it was not easy, all of them studied well, graduated from the institute, became excellent specialists, many of them worked at our university. It is these people that students should look up to, take their studies seriously and responsibly, attend classes, persistently acquire knowledge, become highly qualified specialists, honourably bear the title of SUSU alumnus, be useful to our Motherland, and build the future of Russia. And, of course, you need to be true patriots, ready to defend our Motherland in case of danger. Remember the countless sacrifices that our country made to defeat fascism, the unparalleled feats of all who, sparing no effort, fought the enemy at the front, and who worked in the rear to provide the army with everything necessary! Take care of our Motherland, because there is nothing more precious than that!