Novokuznetsk

Novokuznetsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It was founded in the spring of 1618 as the Kuznetsk stockaded town near the confluence of the Kondoma River into the Tom River. In 1620 the stockaded town was moved to a high terrace on the right bank of the Tom River, becoming the original core of the future city from 1620 to the end of the 1920s.

During the Civil War, the town of Kuznetsk became infamous for the bloody events staged by the Red partisans at excessive (even for the time) the liquidation of non-proletarian classes in the course of the class struggle.

A famous journalist of the 1920s Andrei Kruchina in the essay "In a blind corner, in Kuznetsk" (1923) reports: "The name of partisan Rogov will long remain in the memory of the population of the Kuznetsk district ... With his "young men" he carried out a judicial reprisal against all those who do not have calluses on their hands ... Not hung, not shot, but simply cut off the head of anyone who, in his opinion, the "enemy of the people. In Kuznetsk Rogov cut off seven hundred heads. Institutions were smashed to the head, all the papers in the institutions, books - everything was consigned to the fire. All churches and houses of the rich were destroyed or burned... The seal of Rogovshchina still lies on Kuznetsk. Almost a fourth of the houses in the city gape with black hollows instead of windows..."..

Lieutenant General, Cavalier of St. George Pavel Putilov, who lived in Kuznetsk, was brutally murdered (sawed alive with a saw) by partisans. Now in the city there is a monument to him. The cathedral and most of the churches of the city were robbed and desecrated.

Rogov was not a Red Army commander, and acted, then recognizing the leadership of the Bolsheviks, then on his own, and the Red Army was eventually liquidated. In Soviet times, on the one hand, the Soviet authorities tried to disassociate themselves from Rogov's activities; on the other hand, the veterans of Rogov's detachment enjoyed a certain respect as "Red partisans".

In 1929, the village of Sad-town was formed.

The modern industrial city of Novokuznetsk was formed on July 3, 1931 by the decision of the Presidium of the CEC of the USSR (approved by law on June 30, 1931) from the settlement Sad-gorod (since 1929) at the metallurgical plant under construction.

By the resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of March 2, 1932, the cities of Kuznetsk (now Kuznetsk district of Novokuznetsk) and Novokuznetsk of the West Siberian region were united into one city. The united city was given the name "Novokuznetsk".

On May 5, 1932 it was renamed to Stalinsk, at the same time Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant was named after I.V. Stalin. In October 1932 Kuznetsk was merged with Stalinsk. The united city was called Stalinsk. November 5, 1961, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Stalinsk was renamed Novokuznetsk again.

In the 1930s, Stalin's industrialization of the USSR turned the city into an important coal mining and industrial center. It is to Novokuznetsk that Vladimir Mayakovsky's famous poem "Khrenov's Story of Kuznetskstroy and the People of Kuznetsk" ("I know - the city will be, I know - the garden will blossom, when such people in the Soviet country there are") is dedicated. From 1926 to 1939 the population of the city increased by a record 4354 %.

In 1929, under the project of the American firm "Frein" under the direction of chief engineer Ivan Bardin, the construction of the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine began, which became operational in 1931. In 1941, the evacuated Novokuznetsk Aluminum Plant and Kuznetsk Ferroalloy Plant were launched; Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine produced military products, the steel of KMC was used to make combat vehicles of several tank formations. Later, the West Siberian Metallurgical Combine was built (1964).

The importance of Stalinsk is also evidenced by the fact that in accordance with the first post-war war plan against the USSR), it was included in the number of 20 cities of the USSR, subject to atomic bombing; it was also included in subsequent such lists.

On July 25, 1941 the Vilna Infantry School was evacuated to Stalinsk, which already from August 15 began training officers and commanders for the Red Army. In 1986, perestroika began in the USSR. The failure of the 1987 economic reform led to the start of a miners' strike in the Kemerovo region. Despite the fact that Novokuznetsk is more a city of metallurgists than miners, it became one of the centers of the miners' strike in 1989.

By 1970, the city's population exceeded 500,000 people.

According to the 1989 census, the city's population was 614 726 man.

By 1998, the city had fallen into decline. However, the 1998 crisis and the associated ruble depreciation made coal mining and ferrous metallurgy profitable again.

In 1998-2000, the city's industrial enterprises became the subject of a struggle between the financial and industrial groups MIK (which controlled NKAZ and KMC in 1997-1999), Evraz (ZSMK since 1998, KMC since 1999), Alfa Group (ZSMK in 1997-1999) and Rusal (NKAZ since 2000), which ended with the transfer of the enterprises of KMC and ZSMK to Evraz.

The economic growth of the 2000s brought robust residential and business development to the city.

In 2011, Novokuznetsk Steel was merged with ZSMK.

In March 2014, the city was solemnly handed over the Banner of Peace. It was handed over to the Mayor of Novokuznetsk during the grand opening of the exhibition project "Roerich Pact. History and Modernity Archived April 23, 2021 at the Wayback Machine" by the city's art museum. In 2019, the Peace Banner was transferred for storage to the People's Museum of the Roerich Family.

In 2015, the anthem of the city was chosen with lyrics by Pyotr Dorofeev and music by Mikhail Maslov.