Brezhnev Mecca To Open in Dniprodzerzhynsk

Two decades after the death of the Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, quickly followed by an expose of his “cult of personality,” his compatriots, the residents and authorities of Dniprodzerzhynsk, have decided to restore “historical justice” and reopen the Brezhnev exposition at the city’s history museum. According to Zoya Haipullina, press secretary of Dniprodzerzhynsk’s City Executive Committee, the leaders of local war and labor veteran organizations took the initiative in immortalizing Comrade Brezhnev’s memory. They also proposed to return his name to a city street as well as to restore the memorial plaques to the administrative buildings of the technical university and local integrated iron and steel works where he had studied and worked. Moreover, on official holidays flowers were to be ceremoniously placed at the bronze bust (it is still there!) unveiled during the lifetime of the world-renowned statesman and party leader.

City Hall, however, went no further than restoring the permanent history museum exposition. Its stock contains numerous items relating to Brezhnev’s life and work, including personal belongings, documents, photographs, and gifts sent for his birthdays or as signs of “respect and gratitude.”

The future exposition will consist of five sections illustrating stages in the future politician’s career: Brezhnev’s participation in the Great Patriotic War [as World War II is still called here], Party work in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Moldavia [now Moldova], Kazakhstan, eighteen years in Moscow as CPSU CC General Secretary, and his family. The opening ceremony is scheduled for May, coinciding with the International Museum Day.

In addition, the city fathers are seriously considering the possibility of opening a home-museum of their celebrated fellow countryman at 40 Prospekt Pelina where he and then his mother and relatives lived. However, the dwellings have long been occupied by other tenants and they are said to have received the idea without any special enthusiasm.