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Reconstruction of Sevastopol after the Second World War (1944–1954)

The historical process of the restoration and reconstruction of Sevastopol after the catastrophic destruction of the Second World War, the debunking of the imperial myth of an "exclusively russian reconstruction" of the city, and the coverage of the decisive contribution of the Ukrainian SSR (energy and timber supplies from Kyiv and the Dnipro, financial and construction resources, subordination to the Kherson Council of National Economy [sovnarkhoz] and the restoration of cultural monuments).

Overview

After the liberation of Sevastopol in May 1944, the city was almost completely destroyed. By the resolution of the State Defense Committee / Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of 26 April 1944, the reconstruction of the main base of the Black Sea Fleet was declared a "political task." russian-Soviet propaganda shaped a canonical myth (embodied in Vasyl Lebedev-Kumach's lines "Your every surviving poplar will be tended by a russian person" and in modern occupation projects such as "Reborn from the Ruins"), according to which the city's reconstruction was carried out exclusively by the forces and resources of the RSFSR.

However, archival documents show that from the very first days of the reconstruction the decisive role was played by the resources and enterprises of the Ukrainian SSR. According to the same Stalinist resolution of 26 April 1944, a mobile power station with a capacity of 750 kW with a steam locomotive was sent from Kyiv to Sevastopol by 20 May 1944, and 10,000 cubic metres of round timber was delivered down the Dnipro from Dniproprevalka (the city of Dnipro).

Sevastopol surpassed its pre-war level of housing stock and municipal economy only in 1954 — the year of the official transfer of the Crimean Oblast to the Ukrainian SSR. The official notice of the completion of Sevastopol's reconstruction was sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on 19 February 1957 by the city committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • First urgent measures and supplies from the Ukrainian SSR (1944):
  • Dispatch from Kyiv of a mobile power station with a capacity of 750 kW to supply energy for priority reconstruction and demining works.

  • Supply of 10,000 m³ of round construction timber floated down the Dnipro with transshipment in Dnipropetrovsk.

  • Administrative and economic integration with the Ukrainian SSR (1954–1957):

  • In 1954, during the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine, the chairman of the Sevastopol City Council executive committee, Serhiy Sosnytskyi, reported at a session of the city council on the labour achievements of Sevastopol residents as part of the Ukrainian SSR, and in early 1957 informed the press about the commissioning of about 324,000 sq m of housing in 1949–1955.
  • From June 1957, Sevastopol and the leading construction trust "Sevastopolbud" joined the Kherson economic administrative region of the Ukrainian SSR (the Kherson sovnarkhoz) together with the Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts.

  • On 14 June 1958, the new chairman of the city executive committee, S. Kirsanov, noted the systematic care of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the government of the Ukrainian SSR for the development of Sevastopol.

  • Reconstruction and restoration of cultural and architectural monuments:

  • With the support of the Ukrainian SSR, in the 1960s–1970s the reconstruction and restoration of key city sites was completed: the Hrafska Quay (Count's Landing Stage), the Panorama "Defence of Sevastopol 1854–1855", the Monument to the Scuttled Ships (restorations in the 1960s, 1980s and 2003; in 1969 the monument was placed on the coat of arms of Sevastopol), the Kroshytskyi Art Museum, the Palace of Pioneers, the Sevastopol Hotel, the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas with its Aquarium, and the drama theatre building.

  • Cultural, educational and everyday spaces:

  • Development of a network of Ukrainian trade and educational institutions (the store of the "Ukrainian Republican Gastronom" founded in December 1956, the Sevastopol boarding school within the system of 50 new boarding schools of the Ukrainian SSR, coverage of the development of Nakhimov Avenue in the Ukrainian-language newspaper "Radyanskyi Krym" [Soviet Crimea]).

Contradictions and Open Questions

  • The propagandistic myth of the "russian poplar" versus historical facts: russian imperial and occupation sources (the Crimeanform project of 2018, the poetry of V. Lebedev-Kumach) promote the thesis of an exclusively "russian" restoration of Sevastopol. At the same time, documents confirm that the material base, power stations, timber, finances and administrative leadership of the reconstruction after 1944–1954 were provided by the Ukrainian SSR, and that the decisive turning point in the development of the housing stock occurred precisely after 1954.