Admiral Ushakov street

Stop: Nizhny poselok VGTZ

Nizhny Traktorny is a microdistrict located 15 kilometers northwest of the city center. The settlement, built up mainly with low-rise buildings, is a vivid example of a social town. The period of construction of most of the residential buildings in the settlement, as well as secondary school No. 3 and the Palace of Culture, are 1930s — 1950s.

Among these buildings there are those that stood all the years of the Great Patriotic War, having been under fire. Together with the soldiers of the regular Red Army and the militia of the Tractor Plant, the inhabitants of the village resisted the invaders since the fall of 1942. For a long time, the defenders of Stalingrad rested in a mass grave on the territory of the settlement.

In memory of them, by order of the Volgograd Tractor Plant, a monument with a machine gun was created for the 25th anniversary of the defeat of German troops at Stalingrad. The author of the alabaster sculpture is the Volgograd sculptor Yuri Rakov. The monument was erected on February 2, 1968. This is how grateful descendants immortalized the memory of the 159th Shock Group of the 66th Army of the Don Front, which defended the Tractor Plant.

Only a gray pedestal remained of this monument. There is an inscription on the black plate: “Interesting place. A cultural heritage site of regional significance. Place of battles of the 159th shock group of troops of the 66th army in 1942-1943.». The monument is visually placed at the end of the central alley starting from the entrance of the Palace of Culture through the neglected park to the Volga bank.

Notably, that for a long time graffiti was depicted on both sides of the pedestal — simple drawings and text in block letters, made by hand. A touching attempt to convey information about the victims. So the local residents tried to preserve the memory not only of the soldiers of the regular army, but also of the militias — factory workers and other peaceful Stalingraders buried in a mass grave nearby. After the reburial of the remains from the mass grave in 2017, the pedestal was reconstructed and the unique graffiti disappeared.

In June, 2019, a veneration cross was erected to the militias who died in 1942. It was located on the same alley between the recreation center and the pedestal on the Volga bank. Residents transferred the disappeared text from the pedestal of the monument to the paving stones next to the cross.

The place of memory, among other things, is visited by cadets of a well-known educational institution — the Cadet Corps of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. FF Slipchenko (former of the pedagogical lyceum). This educational institution is located next to the memorial on the street. Traktorostroiteley, 1A. On its territory there is a memorial sign —a tank tower. Until 1995, the tower was located at the mouth of the Mokraya Mechetka River (between the villages of Spartanovka and Nizhny Traktorny). The inscription on the pedestal: “The 124th and 149th rifle brigades and other parts of the 62nd Army heroically fought here. August 1942 — January 1943 «. A memorial plaque was placed on the same pedestal: 20.04.1995. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people over fascism, war veterans, teachers and lyceum students laid a capsule with an appeal to descendants. Open 20.04.2045 in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Victory «..

Since 1970, in one of the buildings of the educational institution the people’s museum of military and labor glory of tractor plant workers has been working.. It consists of five halls: the main hall, the diorama «The Defense of Stalingrad on the Northern Frontiers», the room of the Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice Hero of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuikov, the triumphal hall, the history hall of the educational institution. Remarably, that the diorama of the school museum was created by the same artists who worked on the panorama «Battle of Stalingrad». And in the museum’s exposition there are many genuine items. For example, in 1983 the family of V.I. Chuikov handed over the personal belongings of the commander of Stalingrad.

The Nizhny Traktorny Memorial is not the only monument that perpetuates the memory of the exploits of the militia of Stalingrad.