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Simferopol

The administrative center of the Crimean Oblast. In the first postwar decade (1944–1954) it was in a state of acute infrastructural crisis: a catastrophic shortage of water, almost no sewerage, impassable roads, and a lack of street lighting. At the same time, the city remained an important cultural and educational center, where the art school of the outstanding battle painter Mykola Samokysha operated.

Overview

As of 1955, Simferopol, with a population of about 140,000 residents, was supplied with water at only 50–60% of its needs. The city had no proper sewerage system, and after rains it turned into a swamp. After the transfer of Crimea (1954), the Ukrainian government accelerated the construction of the Simferopol Reservoir and the relief collector. The outstanding Ukrainian artist Mykola Samokysha (1860–1944) lived and worked in the city; he founded an art studio here, which was later reorganized into the Simferopol Art College named after him.

Key details

  • Water supply: Daily need — 42,000 m³; the city reservoir provided only 26,000 m³. Water reserve — only for 14 days. The districts of "Chervona hirka", "Serhiivka", and "Ukrainka" were completely without water.
  • Sewerage: Only 5% of households had fecal sewerage. The biological station utilized only 25% of the effluent; 75% (9,000 m³) was discharged into the Salhyr River, which dried up in summer, turning into a "stinking sewer."
  • Roads: Only 16% of city roads had a hard surface; the rest were "worse than field roads."
  • Lighting: 42 streets had no electric lighting (1953).
  • Flooding: After rains, the city was covered with a layer of silt up to 35 cm; in some years more than 700 houses were flooded.
  • Artistic heritage and activities of M. Samokysha: Since 1922, the studio and art college of M. Samokysha operated in Simferopol. During the Nazi occupation, the Artists' Council (1942) operated in the city, as well as the underground network for helping the intelligentsia of OUN(b) ("Ukrainian Konsum"). On 18 January 1944, M. Samokysha died in Simferopol.
  • The "Salhyrka" estate and scientific horticulture: Since 1913, the Salhyrka Horticultural Experimental Station has operated at the Simferopol estate "Salhyrka" — the main scientific center of pomology, phytopathology, and breeding of fruit crops of Crimea.
  • Plans to limit growth: Ukrainian specialists proposed limiting the population to 150–170 thousand, but the party functionaries resisted, seeking to populate the city with retired military personnel.
  • Ukrainian measures: Accelerated construction of the Simferopol Reservoir; raised the dam of the Aian Reservoir; built a relief collector to protect the central part from floods.
  • Center of Ukrainian embroidery: Since 1952, Vira Roik (Hero of Ukraine) lived and worked in the city, who founded the School of Ukrainian Embroidery in Simferopol, and in 2012 the Vira Roik Museum of Ukrainian Embroidery was opened in the city.