Famous explorer of the North. Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin

Ivan Papanin was born in the city of Sevastopol on November 26, 1894. His father was a harbor sailor. He earned very little, and the large Papanin family suffered from poverty. They lived in a makeshift shack in Apollonova Balka, located on the Korabelnaya side of the city. Ivan Dmitrievich recalled his childhood as follows: “Chekhov has a bitter phrase: “I didn’t have a childhood as a child.” It’s the same for me.” Each of the Papanin children from a young age tried to earn at least a penny on their own by helping their parents.

At school, Ivan studied “excellently”, but due to his difficult financial situation, after graduating from the fourth grade in 1906, he left his studies and got a job at the Sevastopol plant as a turner’s apprentice. The smart boy quickly mastered this profession and was soon considered a skilled worker. By the age of sixteen, he could independently disassemble and assemble a motor of any complexity. In 1912, Ivan, among other capable and promising workers, was enrolled in the staff of the shipbuilding plant in the city of Revel (currently Tallinn). In a new place, the young man learned a number of new specialties, which later became very useful to him.

At the beginning of 1915, Ivan Dmitrievich was called to serve. He joined the Black Sea Fleet as a technical specialist. Two years later, a revolution occurred, and Ivan Dmitrievich, who by that time was twenty-three years old, did not hesitate to join the ranks of the Red Army. A short time later, he was appointed head of the armor workshops of the 58th Army. In the difficult summer of 1919, Ivan Dmitrievich was repairing damaged armored trains. At an abandoned railway station, he managed to organize a large workshop. After this, the young man worked as commissar of the headquarters of the river and sea forces of the Southwestern Front.

After the main forces of the White Guards retreated to the Crimea, Papanin, among others, was sent by the front leadership to organize the partisan movement behind enemy lines. The assembled Rebel Army caused Wrangel considerable harm. In the end, the White Guards had to withdraw some troops from the front. The forest where the partisans were hiding was surrounded, but with incredible efforts they managed to break through the cordon and escape into the mountains. After this, the commander of the Insurgent Army, Alexei Mokrousov, decided to send a proven and reliable person to the headquarters of the Southern Front in order to report the situation and coordinate further actions. Ivan Papanin became such a person.

In the current situation, it was possible to get to Russia through the Turkish city of Trebizond (now Trabzon). Papanin managed to negotiate with local smugglers to transport him across the Black Sea. In a flour sack, he safely passed the customs post. The journey to Trebizond turned out to be unsafe and long. Already in the city, Papanin managed to meet the Soviet consul, who on the very first night sent him to Novorossiysk on a transport ship. Twelve days later, Papanin managed to get to Kharkov and appear before Mikhail Frunze. The commander of the Southern Front listened to him and promised to provide the partisans with the necessary assistance. After this, Ivan Dmitrievich set off on the return journey. In the city of Novorossiysk, the future famous writer-playwright Vsevolod Vishnevsky joined him. On a boat with ammunition they reached the Crimean coast, after which Papanin returned to the partisans.

For organizing the actions of partisan detachments behind enemy lines, Ivan Dmitrievich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After the defeat of Wrangel's army and the end of the Civil War, Papanin worked as commandant of the Extraordinary Commission of Crimea. During the work, he was thanked for preserving the confiscated valuables. Over the next four years, Ivan Dmitrievich literally could not find a place for himself. In Kharkov, he served as military commandant of the Ukrainian Central Executive Committee, then, by the will of fate, he was appointed secretary of the revolutionary military council of the Black Sea Fleet, and in the spring of 1922 he was transferred to Moscow to the place of commissar of the Administrative Directorate of the Main Maritime Technical and Economic Directorate.

Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to trace the change in Ivan Dmitrievich’s worldview over these terrible years, during which he went through all imaginable and unimaginable difficulties. Undoubtedly, the bloody events left many scars on his heart. Being a benevolent, humane and conscientious person by nature, Papanin finally made an unexpected decision - to engage in science. We can say that from that moment he began the “second half” of his life, which turned out to be much longer - almost sixty-five years. Ivan Dmitrievich demobilized in 1923, moving to the position of chief of security at the People's Commissariat of Communications. When in 1925 the People's Commissariat decided to establish the first stationary radio station at the Aldan gold mines in Yakutia, Papanin asked to be sent for construction. He was appointed deputy chief for supply issues.

We had to get to the city of Aldan through the remote taiga; Papanin himself wrote about this: “We went to Irkutsk by train, then again by train to the village of Never. And then another thousand kilometers on horseback. Our small detachment, well-equipped, moved without losses, despite the fact that the time was turbulent - they almost drowned in the river, and had to shoot back from the bandits. We got to the place barely alive, it was severely frosty, and we were pretty hungry.” The station was built in one year instead of the planned two, and Papanin himself said: “During the year of work in Yakutia, I turned from a resident of the south into a convinced northerner. This is a completely special country that takes a person without a trace.”

Returning to the capital, Ivan Dmitrievich, with only four grades of primary school behind him, entered the Planning Academy. However, he never completed the full course at the academy - in 1931, Germany turned to the Soviet Union for permission to visit the Soviet part of the Arctic on the huge airship Graf Zepelin. The official goal was to clarify the location of islands and archipelagos and study the distribution of ice cover. The USSR agreed with only one condition: that Russian scientists would also take part in this expedition, and copies of the data obtained at the end of the trip would be transferred to the Soviet Union. The world press made a big fuss about the flight. The Arctic Institute organized a trip to Franz Josef Land for the icebreaking steamship Malygin, which was to meet the German airship in Tikhaya Bay and exchange mail with it. The aspiring polar explorer Papanin, as an employee of the People's Commissariat for Postal Service, headed the post office on the Malygin.

“Malygin” reached Tikhaya Bay, where the Soviet station stood, on July 25, 1931. The expedition participants were met by the first shift of polar explorers, who lived here for a year. And by lunchtime the next day, the Graf Zeppelin airship arrived here, landing on the surface of the bay. Papanin wrote: “The airship - a huge swaying pile - lay on the water, reacting to any, even very weak wind. The mail transfer process was short. The Germans threw their correspondence into our boat, we handed them ours. As soon as the mail was delivered to the Malygin, we dismantled it and distributed it to the passengers, the rest of the messages remained to wait for the mainland.”

Having said goodbye to the airship, “Malygin” visited a number of islands of Franz Josef Land. Ivan Dmitrievich gladly took part in all coastal landings. This is how Papanin’s flight participant, writer Nikolai Pinegin, recalled: “I first met this man in 1931 in the Malygin postal cabin.” It seemed to me that he had some kind of gift for putting people together into friendly groups. For example, before those who wanted to hunt had time to express their proposals, Ivan Dmitrievich had already lined up people, lined them up, distributed weapons, cartridges and announced the rules of collective hunting, as if all his life he had done nothing but shoot polar bears...”

Papanin liked the north, and in the end he decided to stay here. He wrote: “Isn’t it too late to start life again at thirty-seven years old? No, no and NO! It's never too late to start your favorite business. And I had no doubt at all that the work here would become my favorite, I felt that it was for me. I was not afraid of difficulties; I had already experienced enough of them. The blue sky and white expanses stood before my eyes, and I remembered that special silence that had nothing to compare with. This is how my journey as a polar explorer began..."

While still in Tikhaya Bay, Papanin, having carefully examined the polar station, came to the conclusion that it needed to be expanded. He shared his thoughts with the head of the expedition, the famous polar explorer Vladimir Wiese, offering his services. After returning from the expedition, Wiese recommended the candidacy of Ivan Dmitrievich to the director of the Arctic Institute, Rudolf Samoilovich, which resulted in the appointment of Papanin as head of the station in Tikhaya Bay. It should be noted that this station was given great importance in connection with the scientific event held in 1932-1933, called the second International Polar Year, designed to unite the efforts of the leading powers in the study of the polar regions. The station in Tikhaya Bay was planned to be turned into a large observatory with a wide range of research.

In January 1932, Ivan Dmitrievich moved to St. Petersburg and was accepted into the staff of the Arctic Institute. He spent days and days in the warehouses of Arcticsnab, choosing the necessary equipment and looking closely at the “personnel”. A total of thirty-two people were selected for the work, including twelve research assistants. It is curious that Papanin took his wife with him for the winter, which was rare for those times. To deliver everything necessary to Tikhaya Bay, the Malygin had to make two voyages from Arkhangelsk. The construction team that arrived on the first flight immediately got to work. Before their arrival, the station had one residential building and a magnetic pavilion, but soon another house, a mechanical workshop, a radio station, a power station and a weather station appeared next to them. In addition, a new house was built on Rudolf Island, thus creating a branch of the observatory. Nikolai Pinegin, who went to look at the construction, wrote: “Everything was done solidly, prudently, economically... The work was perfectly organized and was carried out extraordinarily. The new boss has assembled an amazingly well-coordinated team.”

After stationary observations were established, scientists began observations at distant points of the archipelago. For this purpose, dog sled trips were undertaken in the first half of 1933. The result was the identification of several astronomical points, clarification of the outlines of the straits and shores, and the discovery of a scattering of small islands near Rudolf Island, called October. The outstanding polar explorer, astronomer and geophysicist Evgeny Fedorov recalled: “Ivan Dmitrievich’s motto: “Science should not suffer,” was decisively put into practice. He did not have any systematic education, however, visiting all the laboratories, regularly talking with each of us, he quickly understood the main tasks, in the sense of the research being carried out. He did not try to delve into details, however, being by nature an insightful and intelligent person, he wanted to know how qualified each scientist was, how much he loved his work, and how devoted he was to it. Having made sure that all the specialists were trying to do their job as best as possible, he no longer found it necessary to interfere, turning all his attention to helping them.”

The second shift of the station in Tikhaya Bay was transported by the icebreaking steamship Taimyr in August 1933. After reporting to the Arctic Institute on the work completed, Papanin went on vacation and then reappeared in Wiese’s office. During the conversation, Vladimir Yulievich informed him of a new appointment - the head of a tiny polar station located on Cape Chelyuskin. In four months, Ivan Dmitrievich managed to select a team of thirty-four people and deliver scientific pavilions, prefabricated houses, a wind turbine, a hangar, a radio station, all-terrain vehicles and much other equipment to the city of Arkhangelsk. It is curious that most of his wintering colleagues in Tikhaya Bay did not hesitate to go with Papanin.

The travelers set off in the summer of 1934 on board the icebreaker Sibiryakov. At Cape Chelyuskin there was solid fast ice, which allowed the polar explorers to unload directly onto the ice. The total weight of the cargo reached 900 tons, and all of it, down to the last kilogram, had to be dragged three kilometers to the shore. This work took two weeks. During this period, the Litke icebreaker, the Partizan Shchetinkin tugboat, the Ermak icebreaker along with the Baikal steamship approached the cape. Papanin also managed to attract the crews of these ships to carry them. Simultaneously with the delivery of things and materials, a team of builders began constructing scientific pavilions, warehouses, houses and a wind turbine. Everything except the stoves was ready at the end of September. In this regard, in order not to delay the icebreaker, Ivan Dmitrievich, leaving the stove maker for the winter, released the rest of the workers. Throughout the winter, the researchers carried out observations and went on one-day sleigh rides. In the spring, one group of scientists set off on a long trip to Taimyr on dog sleds, and the other, together with Papanin, moved along the Vilkitsky Strait.

At the beginning of August, the ice in the strait began to move, and the Sibiryakov left Dikson with a new group of winterers. Ivan Dmitrievich was pleased with the work done - a radio center and a modern observatory were created, and scientists accumulated valuable material. Comfort and cleanliness reigned in the pavilions and residential building, which was the merit of the wives of Fedorov and Papanin. By the way, Anna Kirillovna Fedorova acted as a geophysicist and cultural organizer, and Galina Kirillovna Papanina acted as a meteorologist and librarian. Soon the icebreaking steamer brought a new shift and, having unloaded food, headed east to other stations. He was supposed to pick up the Papanins on the way back. It was unreasonable for two shifts to crowd together at one station; many wanted to go home to their families, and Ivan Dmitrievich, taking advantage of the passage past the cape of the Anadyr steamship, persuaded the captain to take his detachment with him.

After returning from the campaign, Papanin began to enjoy well-deserved authority among polar explorers, but the next expedition of Ivan Dmitrievich forever inscribed his name in the exploration of the Arctic spaces. For the USSR, the discovery of permanent navigation of ships along the Northern Sea Route was of great importance. For this purpose, a special department was established - the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, or Glavsevmorput for short. However, to operate Arctic lines, it was necessary to conduct a series of multifaceted scientific research - study ice drift routes, periods of their melting, study underwater currents and much more. It was decided to organize a unique and risky scientific expedition, which involved long-term work by people directly on a floating ice floe.

Papanin was appointed head of the expedition. He was entrusted not only with the preparation of equipment, equipment and food, but also with the construction of an air base on Rudolf Island. With his characteristic determination, Ivan Dmitrievich also inserted himself into the selection of the station’s team. However, of his old companions, he managed to defend only Evgeniy Fedorov. In addition to him, the team included: radio operator Ernst Krenkel and hydrobiologist Pyotr Shirshov.

For a whole year, the staff of the drifting station prepared for work. An exception was made only for Krenkel, who was wintering at that time on Severnaya Zemlya.

Papanin boldly took on the task of remaking existing equipment and designing new ones. He wrote: “Without lighting, there’s nowhere. Batteries are difficult to take, and they are also unreliable in cold weather. Fuel oil and gasoline - how much will you need? Apparently, we need a windmill. It is unpretentious, not afraid of frost, and rarely breaks. The only negative is that it is heavy. The lightest one weighs almost 200 kilograms, and for us even a hundred is a lot, it is necessary, due to the materials and design, to remove even half of this hundred. I went to Leningrad and Kharkov. He said there: “The maximum weight of a windmill is 50 kilograms.” They looked at me with regret - they said I was moving. ...And yet, Leningrad craftsmen set a record - according to the design of a designer from Kharkov, they created a windmill weighing 54 kilograms.”

The Institute of Public Nutrition Engineers came up with special sets of freeze-dried, high-calorie, fortified foods for the expedition. All products were sealed in special tin cans weighing 44 kilograms each, at the rate of one can for four people for ten days. In addition, powerful compact radio stations were assembled especially for the participants and a unique tent was developed that could withstand fifty-degree frost. Its lightweight aluminum frame was “dressed” with canvas, and then with a cover, including two layers of eiderdown. On top there was a layer of tarpaulin and a black silk cover. The height of the “house” was 2 meters, width - 2.5, length - 3.7. Inside there was a folding table and two bunk beds. A vestibule was attached to the outside of the tent, which “kept” the heat when the door was opened. The floor of the tent was inflatable, 15 centimeters thick. The “house” weighed 160 kilograms, so four men could lift it and move it. The tent was not heated; the only source of heat was a kerosene lamp.

The starting point for the flight to the pole was Rudolf Island, from which the goal was only 900 kilometers. However, there was only a small house for three people. For the air expedition, it was necessary to build the main and reserve airfields, warehouses for equipment, a garage for tractors, living quarters and deliver hundreds of barrels of fuel. Papanin, together with the head of the future air base, Yakov Libin, and a team of builders with the necessary cargo, went to the island in 1936. Having made sure that work there was in full swing, Ivan Dmitrievich returned to the mainland. The final rehearsal for the operation of the future drifting station was successfully held in February 1937. A tent was erected fifteen kilometers from the capital, in which the “Papaninites” lived for several days. Nobody visited them, and they maintained contact with the outside world via radio.

On May 21, 1937, near the North Pole, a large group of polar explorers was landed on an ice floe. It took people two weeks to equip the station, and then four people remained on it. The fifth living creature on the ice floe was a dog named “Vesely”. The drift of the legendary station "SP-1" (North Pole-1) lasted 274 days. During this time, the ice floe floated over two and a half thousand kilometers. The expedition participants made many scientific discoveries, in particular, an underwater ridge crossing the Arctic Ocean was discovered. It also turned out that the polar regions are densely populated by various animals - seals, seals, bears. The whole world closely followed the epic of Russian polar explorers; not a single event that happened between the two world wars attracted such attention from the general public.

Papanin, not being a scientific specialist, often worked “on the spot” - in the workshop and in the kitchen. There was nothing offensive in this; without the help of Ivan Dmitrievich, two young scientists would not have been able to implement an extensive scientific program. In addition, Papanin created a team atmosphere. This is how Fedorov wrote about him: “Dmitrich not only helped us, he guided and literally nurtured what is called the spirit of the team - willingness to help a friend, friendliness, restraint regarding an unsuccessful act and an extra word from a neighbor. He, as a leader, perfectly understood the need to maintain and strengthen the compatibility of the expedition participants, devoting all his spiritual strength to this side of life.”

Every day Ivan Dmitrievich got in touch with the mainland and talked about the progress of the drift. One of the last radiograms was especially alarming: “As a result of a storm that lasted six days, in the area of ​​the station on February 1 at eight o’clock in the morning, the field was torn by cracks ranging from half a kilometer to five kilometers long. We are on a piece of debris 200 meters wide and 300 meters long. The technical warehouse has been cut off, as well as two bases... There is a crack under the living tent, we are moving to a snow house. I’ll tell you the coordinates today, please don’t worry if the connection is lost.” The management decided to evacuate the polar explorers. With enormous difficulties, on February 19, 1938, not far from the coast of Greenland, the “Papaninites” were removed from the ice floe with the help of the approaching icebreakers “Taimyr” and “Murman”. Thus ended, according to the outstanding Soviet scientist Otto Schmidt, the most significant geographical study of the twentieth century.

All members of the expedition turned into national heroes, becoming symbols of everything Soviet, progressive and heroic. The polar explorers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and received major promotions. Shirshov became director of the Arctic Institute, Fedorov became his deputy, Krenkel headed the Arctic Department, Ivan Dmitrievich became deputy head of the Main Northern Sea Route Otto Schmidt. Six months later (in 1939), Otto Yulievich went to work at the Academy of Sciences, and Papanin headed the Main Northern Sea Route. Of course, both in character and in style of work, Ivan Dmitrievich was the complete opposite of the previous leader. However, in those years, the new organization needed just such a person - with enormous energy, life experience, and breakthrough ability. It was here that Papanin’s organizational gift truly unfolded. He devoted a lot of effort to the development of the North, organizing the life and work of people who worked in the vast territory of the Soviet Arctic.

In 1939, Papanin aboard the icebreaker "Stalin" took part in a voyage along the Northern Sea Route. "Stalin", having traveled along the entire route to Ugolnaya Bay, returned to Murmansk, making a double through voyage for the first time in the history of Arctic voyages. Papanin wrote: “In two months, the icebreaker covered twelve thousand kilometers, including work in the ice to guide ships. We visited the main Arctic ports and a number of polar stations, and I had the opportunity to see their condition and get acquainted with the personnel. This voyage turned out to be truly priceless for me - from now on I knew the state of affairs not from papers or hearsay, and received complete information about navigation in the Arctic.”

Having completed the navigation of 1939, Papanin went to rest south, but was soon called to Moscow in connection with the start of work to rescue the crew of the icebreaker Georgy Sedov, drifting in the ice. The government decided to send the flagship icebreaker “Stalin” to help, which was also given the additional task of saving the icebreaking steamship “Sedov”. After urgent completion of repairs, the Stalin left the port of Murmansk on December 15, 1939. On January 4, 1940, 25 kilometers from Sedov, the icebreaker fell into heavy ice. The pressure of the ice floes was so strong that the frames cracked. However, a week later the compression stopped, and the Stalin, taking advantage of the cracks and loopholes, approached the emergency steamer on January 12. A special commission recognized the Sedov as seaworthy, and after hard work to free the ship from the ice, the icebreaker, taking the steamer in tow, set off on its return journey. On February 1, the expedition members found themselves on their native land. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to all fifteen participants of the drift and the captain of the “Stalin” Belousov. Ivan Dmitrievich became a twice Hero.

During the Great Patriotic War, Papanin led transportation in the North of the country with indomitable energy. He was also entrusted with organizing the uninterrupted delivery of military equipment and equipment coming from England and America under Lend-Lease to the front. In addition, he made a huge contribution to the reorganization of the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. And at the end of 1942, a tank column called “Soviet Polar Explorer”, created at the expense of polar explorers, went to the front. In 1943, Ivan Dmitrievich was awarded the rank of rear admiral. People's Commissar of the Navy Alexander Afanasyev wrote about him: “The short, cast Papanin always came in with a sharp joke and a smile. He will walk around everyone in the reception area, shake hands with everyone and make a pun or say warm words, and then be the first to easily enter the government office. ... When reporting on transportation, he will definitely show concern for port workers, sailors and soldiers, ask to replace special clothing, increase food, and put forward a proposal to reward workers of the Far North for completing tasks.”
Meanwhile, the years reminded Papanin of themselves. Remaining cheerful and not tired in the eyes of his colleagues, Ivan Dmitrievich began to increasingly feel disruptions in his body. During Arctic navigation in 1946, Papanin fell down with attacks of angina pectoris. Doctors insisted on long-term treatment, and, realistically assessing his capabilities, the famous polar explorer resigned from his post as head of the Main Northern Sea Route.

Papanin considered the next two years the most boring in his life. Big holidays for him were the visits of his comrades from the drifting station - Fedorov, Krenkel and Shirshov. In the fall of 1948, Pyotr Shirshov, who is the director of the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, invited Ivan Dmitrievich to become his deputy in the direction of expeditionary activities. This is how a new stage began in Papanin’s life. His tasks included ordering and supervising the construction of research ships, forming expedition teams, and providing them with equipment and scientific equipment.

The energy and effectiveness of Papanin’s work were noticed. In 1951 he was invited to the Academy of Sciences to the position of head of the department of marine expeditionary work. The task of the department was to ensure the operation of the AN ships, of which there were no more than a dozen for sailing in coastal waters and one research ship for long-distance travel. However, a few years later, ocean-going vessels designed specifically for scientific research began to appear in the USSR Academy of Sciences, and then in the research institutes of the Hydrometeorological Service. Without any exaggeration, Papanin was the initiator and organizer of the founding of the world's largest research fleet. In addition, the famous polar explorer organized a separate scientific center on the Volga River, and a biological station on the Kuibyshev Reservoir, which later turned into the Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

It is also necessary to note the activities of Ivan Dmitrievich in the village of Borok. One day, who loved to hunt in the Yaroslavl region, he was also asked to inspect the local biological station. It arose on the site of a former landowner's estate and was dying, but in connection with the construction of the Rybinsk Reservoir they were going to revive it. Papanin returned to the capital with a double impression - on the one hand, the station was an excellent place for scientific research, on the other, it was a pair of dilapidated wooden houses with a dozen bored employees. Arriving in Borok at the beginning of 1952, Papanin, who headed the station “part-time,” began active work. His authority in economic and scientific circles allowed the polar explorer to “knock out” scarce equipment and materials; one after another, barges with metal, boards, and bricks began to arrive at the station’s pier.

Residential buildings, laboratory buildings, and auxiliary services were built, and a research fleet appeared. On the initiative and with the direct participation of Ivan Dmitrievich, the Institute of Biology of Reservoirs (currently the Papanin Institute of Biology of Inland Waters) and the Borok Geophysical Observatory were created in the village. Ivan Dmitrievich invited many young specialists to this place, supporting them with housing. However, his main achievement was the appearance in Borok of a group of outstanding scientists - biologists and geneticists, most of whom served time and could not return to Moscow. Here they got the opportunity to fully engage in creative activities. Papanin also ignored Khrushchev’s instructions to send people to retire when they reached the age of 60.

Thanks to the efforts of Ivan Dmitrievich, the village was populated by educated and cultured people. Everything in this place was buried in flowers; on Papanin’s initiative, a special landscaping group was organized, which carried out a number of large-scale windbreak plantings, which made it possible to acclimatize imported southern plants. The moral climate of the village was also of particular interest - they never heard of theft here and the doors in the apartments were never locked. And on the train to Moscow passing near the village, Papanin “knocked out” a permanent reservation for eight compartments for the institute’s employees.

Intense activity in his advanced years affected Papanin’s health. More and more often he fell ill and was in hospitals. His first wife, Galina Kirillovna, passed away in 1973. They lived in harmony for almost fifty years, wintering together at Cape Chelyuskin and in Tikhaya Bay. Being a sensible and calm woman, she perfectly balanced her husband and “brought him down from heaven” in the years of honors and glory. For the second time, Ivan Dmitrievich married the editor of his memoirs, Raisa Vasilievna, in 1982. The legendary polar explorer died four years later - on January 30, 1986 - and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, where all his comrades from the famous drift had already found peace.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Israel said: “Papanin was a great man with a kind heart and an iron will.” During his long life, Ivan Dmitrievich wrote over two hundred articles and two autobiographical books - “Life on an Ice Floe” and “Ice and Fire”. He was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he was a holder of nine Orders of Lenin, and was awarded many orders and medals, both Soviet and foreign. Ivan Dmitrievich was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences, and became an honorary citizen of Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Lipetsk, Sevastopol and the entire Yaroslavl region. An island in the Azov Sea, a cape on the Taimyr Peninsula, an underwater mountain in the Pacific Ocean and mountains in Antarctica were named after him.

Based on materials from the book by Yu.K. Burlakov "Papanin's Four. Ups and downs" and the website http://odnarodyna.com.ua.

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Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin – head of the North Pole research drifting station, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Rear Admiral.

Ivan was born on November 14 (old style) 1894 in the port city of Sevastopol in the family of sailor Dmitry Nikolaevich Papanin and housewife Sekletia Petrovna Kovalenko. Ivan's ancestors were Moldovans and Ukrainians. The family raised six children. When Ivan was still a teenager, his mother died of sepsis, and the hardships of everyday life fell on the teenager’s shoulders. Therefore, despite his good performance at school, Ivan had to go to work at a factory. In 1905, the young man witnessed an uprising on the ship Ochakov. Even then, revolutionary ideals began to emerge in Ivan’s heart.

Since 1908, the young man got a job as a ship mechanic, and then mastered the specialty of a mechanic. At the age of 16, Ivan Papanin was considered the best worker in the assembly of navigation instruments. In 1912, a young worker was sent to Tallinn to improve his skills. In the 1915 war he joined the ranks of the Russian Navy, but in 1917, with the beginning of the revolutionary movement, he took the side of the Bolsheviks and swore allegiance to the Red Army.

In 1918, Ivan leads a partisan detachment in the territory of Crimea, occupied by the Germans under the Brest Treaty. A sabotage war begins, led by the Bolsheviks Mokrousov and Kun. Being subordinate to experienced warriors, Papanin carried out several successful operations. One of the opponents of the partisans in those years was the army. Papanin was given instructions to pass undetected through White Guard territory and return back with reinforcements.

After the victory over Wrangel on the liberated territory of the Crimean Peninsula, Papanin was given the post of commandant of the Extraordinary Commission. Since 1921, Ivan Dmitrievich had to work as an investigator. The 20s remained in the history of Crimea as a time of bloody reprisals against the surviving officers and soldiers of the White Army. Merciless security officers shot, drowned and buried their compatriots alive. It is unknown what feelings Ivan Papanin, a simple-minded and honest person by nature, experienced at that time.

Expeditions

A year later, Ivan Dmitrievich was transferred to Moscow as Commissioner for Economic Support of the Fleet, and in 1923 he was appointed head of the Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs. In the same year, Papanin enrolled in the Higher Communications Courses, where he studied for two years. When recruitment for an expedition to build a radio station in Yakutia was announced in 1925, Papanin was the first to show a desire to go north.

As deputy head of construction in permafrost conditions, Ivan Dmitrievich achieved the construction of the facility in a short time. Seven years later, Papanin is sent as the head of the polar station to the islands of Franz Josef Land, and two years later, Ivan Dmitrievich heads the station on Taimyr.

When in 1937 the government decided to launch the world's first drifting Arctic station, no one had a question about who would lead it. The goal of the expedition was not to conquer the North Pole; others had done this before Papanin (Roald Amundsen, Richard Byrd, Umberto Nobile). The Soviet government has long set itself the task of creating shipping along the northern border of the state. But the Arctic route has not yet been sufficiently studied. A scientific expedition organized right on the ice floe had to answer about the presence of underwater currents, the periods of motionless ice and the paths of its drift.

The Soviet expedition, which was widely covered in the world press, consisted of the leader and cook Ivan Papanin, hydrologist and biologist Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov, geophysicist and astronomer Evgeniy Konstantinovich Fedorov and radio operator Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel. On the mainland, polar explorers were trained by Otto Schmidt. A few months before shipment, special food was developed, suitable for long-term storage in the conditions of the far north, a warm home was developed, and measuring equipment was prepared.

The expedition set off on 4 aerial bombers in March 1937 and reached its final destination on May 21. The flight was carried out blindly, but pilot Mikhail Vodopyanov landed the aircraft exactly on an ice floe. Within 2 weeks, a scientific station was fully equipped on the ice, after which the aircraft headed back, and the ice floe began moving from north to south.

The polar explorers had to drift for 274 days, while it was planned to spend a year and a half in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. During this time, scientists collected information about the fauna of the polar region and the presence of plankton in the ocean waters. The Papaninites took a large number of photographs of animals living in the Arctic. Polar explorers were responsible for the discovery of the Great Underwater Ridge and the creation of a weather map of the Arctic.

The critical moment for Papanin's group came in early February 1938. The ice floe, already approaching the warm waters of the Atlantic since the fall, began to melt and break into pieces. On February 19, the rescue operation was carried out by two icebreakers “Taimyr” and “Murman”, from one of which a plane piloted by pilot Vlasov departed for the station. The next day, equipment and people were on the Taimyr.

The country greeted the “Papaninites” as national heroes. Papanin became the idol of millions; the biography of Ivan Dmitrievich was studied in schools. On March 6, a group of polar explorers reported at the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences. After the report, Ivan Papanin and Ernst Krenkel became doctors of geographical sciences. The expedition members were awarded the Order of Lenin, and all were given the title of Hero of the USSR. Ivan Dmitrievich is appointed head of the Main Northern Sea Route.

In 1939, Papanin took part in the rescue operation of the icebreaker Georgiy Sedov, which had been drifting in Arctic waters since 1937 due to a steering failure. For saving the ship and crew, Ivan Papanin again received the Hero of the USSR.

With the outbreak of the war, Ivan Papanin was entrusted with overseeing the construction of port shipyards in Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, and on the Far Eastern coast. After the Victory over Nazi Germany, having worked for a year in his previous position, Papanin went into science. Papanin's ideas about creating a scientific fleet are being implemented. Since 1951, Papanin has led naval expeditions at the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1956, Ivan Dmitrievich headed the Scientific Institute of Biology of Inland Waters in the village of Borok (Yaroslavl region). Until the end of his life, the scientist worked for the good of his homeland.

Personal life

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin was married twice. The first wife of the polar explorer was a native of Yalta, Galina Kirillovna Kastorzhivskaya. The woman shared with Ivan Dmitrievich all the hardships of life in Yakutia and Taimyr.

Galina was an indispensable assistant to her husband, collecting meteorological information and archiving the data obtained. Having contracted cancer in the mid-60s, Galina Kirillovna died in 1973. There were no children in the family.

Ivan Dmitrievich took the loss seriously, but in 1982 he married Raisa Vasilievna, who edited the publication of the polar explorer’s memoirs. The second wife was 35 years younger than Papanin.

Death

Ivan Dmitrievich enjoyed good health until the end of his life.

The polar explorer died at the age of 92 on January 30, 1986 from cardiac arrest. Papanin's grave is located at the Novodevichy cemetery.

On November 26, 1894, one of the founders of the study and pioneer of the exploration of the North Pole of the Earth, Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin, was born. During his long life - 91 years - Papanin received many honorary titles and received many awards, including being twice Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded nine Orders of Lenin. In addition, Papanin had a scientific degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences and the rank of rear admiral.

Today RG decided to recall key fragments of his biography.

Ignorant academician

Ivan Papanin did not receive secondary education - the boy studied in primary school for only four years. The plant became a “school of life” for him. Only in 1931, while working in the People's Commissariat of Communications, Papanin graduated from the Higher Courses of Communications

II International Oceanographic Congress. Doctor of Geographical Sciences, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin speaking. Photo: A. Cheprunov/ RIA Novosti www.ria.ru

However, the lack of education did not prevent him from receiving a doctorate in 1938 for the results obtained at the SP-1 station. And later become an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences - deputy director of the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences for expeditions and director of the Institute of Inland Water Biology of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Rear Admiral

Ivan Papanin began his military career in 1914. The sailor's son was lucky; he ended up in the navy. He was a participant in the Civil War in Ukraine and Crimea, and was a commissar on the Southwestern Front. He worked as secretary of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet, and after the end of the war he served in the People's Commissariat of Communications.

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Rear Admiral Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin. Photo: Vladimir Savostyanov/ITAR-TASS

Since 1939 he headed the Main Northern Sea Route. During the Great Patriotic War, he was the State Defense Committee's Commissioner for Transportation on the White Sea. In 1943, Papanin was awarded the rank of rear admiral.

Polar explorer No. 1

The expedition to the North Pole began on June 6, 1937, when Ivan Papanin, meteorologist and geophysicist Evgeny Fedotov, radio operator Ernst Krenkel and hydrobiologist and oceanographer Pyotr Shirshov landed on the ice floe. The SP station drifted for 274 days and floated along with the ice floe for more than 2000 kilometers. The winterers were removed from the ice floe off the coast of Greenland on February 19, 1938.

Polar station "North Pole-1". Photo: Yakov Khalip/ RIA Novosti www.ria.ru

For the data obtained during the drift, the Papaninites were awarded scientific degrees. In addition, the polar explorers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And the film “At the North Pole,” directed by Mark Troyanovsky, earned so much that the profits covered the costs of the expedition several times over.

"Papanintsy"

The feat of the "Papaninites" was immortalized in different ways. In 1938, a series of stamps was issued dedicated to the SP-1 expedition. In the same year, Papanin published the book “Life on an Ice Floe.” In addition, for several years, Soviet boys played “Papanitsev” and conquered the North Pole, which was also reflected in literature (for example, in Valentin Kataev’s “Tsvetik-Semitsvetik”, 1940). In 1995, a commemorative coin of 25 rubles was issued, dedicated to the SP-1 station.

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin and Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin during the presentation of the award to the researcher in 1938.. Photo: Ivan Shagin/ RIA Novosti www.ria.ru

During his life, Papanin himself became an honorary citizen of four cities - Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Sevastopol, Lipetsk, and one region - Yaroslavl. Also, several geographical names were named after him - a cape on Taimyr, an island in the Azov Sea, mountains in Antarctica and the Pacific Ocean, streets in a number of cities were named in honor of Ivan Dmitrievich.

Ivan Dmitrievich Papanin discovered the North Pole, to which polar explorers and adventurers had been unsuccessfully striving for centuries. The powers were eager. Papanin was the first to land on an Arctic ice floe, set up a drifting station there and opened up a new space for humanity.

He was not a painstaking academic researcher, and this genius did not have any special education. Papanin is from the breed of pioneers. Such as Ermak Timofeevich or Erofey Khabarov. Inquisitiveness and energy for science are sometimes more important than academic depth. And he supported real scientists, skillfully distinguishing them from the crowd of projectors and scammers. This is how Papanin was remembered in Borki - there he created and headed the Institute of Reservoir Biology.

He is from Crimea. Native Sevastopol resident. My grandfather and father served in the Black Sea Fleet. They didn’t build stone chambers, they couldn’t give Ivan an education, and as a teenager Papanin had to work to earn his daily bread.

He had no Nobel Prizes, only Hero Stars and the Order of Lenin. The West did not count on him in the Cold War with our Motherland. After all, he is a patented Bolshevik, a doctor of science with a simple talk, with a start in life that the sailor Papanin received in the fire of the Civil War. Without such destinies, Soviet power would have turned out to be a lie. And it exists even after the abolition of Belovezhskaya - in history, in our culture and traditions.

The most fearful people of the twentieth century trusted him. A member of the Crimean Revolutionary Committee, famous for her cruelty, Rosalia Zemlyachka, appointed Papanin as commandant of the Crimean Cheka. This was the time of the Red Terror in Crimea. As the commandant of the Cheka, he saw and knew everything, and he himself took part in the repressions. It all ended with “complete nervous exhaustion.” By the way, then he received gratitude for saving the confiscated valuables.

Stalin chose him to be the main conqueror of the North Pole. Such trust is an explosive substance, but Papanin was neither taken by a bullet nor by slander. He is one of the tenacious Ivanovs. Iron joker. Even in faded photographs from the pole, in the general plan, when his face turns into a blurry dot, his smile can be discerned, daring his comrades to do great things.

During the Civil War, Papanin was the organizer of sabotage in Wrangel's rear. Didn't burn in fire, didn't drown in water. Saved the Black Sea Fleet: organized its departure before the Germans arrived...

Hero of the Soviet country, and officially - twice Hero of the Soviet Union, the second in history! He is one of the forgotten Soviet miracles. To understand him, one must open one's heart to the Promethean idea of ​​universal brotherhood for which he fought. Otherwise you and Papanin will not get along.

The song from 1938 has not been played on the radio for many years. Song glorifying the feat:

In the Arctic Ocean

Against northern tornadoes

Ivan Papanin fought

Two hundred and seventy nights.

Four friends guarded

The red flag of the native land -

For the time being, from the south

The icebreakers didn't come!

The poet Alexander Zharov slightly shortened the duration of the expedition, sacrificing accuracy for the sake of poetic length: in fact, the North Pole-1 station worked for 274 days, the whole world watched the fate of the heroes with excitement.

Ivan Papanin, Ernst Krenkel, Evgeny Fedorov and Pyotr Shirshov - the unforgettable four of 1937/38. And the fifth is the dog Vesely, the first, but not the last, world-famous husky.

Icebreakers sailed, sailed,

We swam across the ocean.

The dog Jolly rode and rode

From distant polar countries.

This is how Soviet children will sing. But Vesyoly was known not only in the USSR - both in Europe and America, schoolchildren drew pictures of the wintering dog. This is not an exaggeration; in those years, Soviet propaganda acted inventively, the country knew how to declare itself. In our time, the feat of the Papaninites would most likely simply remain on the margins of popular consciousness - tea, not a TV show.

The USSR was forced to prepare for a big war. And the last salvos of the Civil War died down only 15 years before Papanin’s expedition... But the state found funds for science, for industrialization, for the development of the North. Many current masters of life are wasting their future in international brothels, and the Soviet people created a strategic reserve, looking decades ahead.

We live in an age of fake heroes and great provocations. And Papanin’s ice floe is a big truth, and not a television special effect, not a montage of attractions that the current “PR” magicians have mastered.

Revolutionary winds are not only the destruction of the old world, not only class battles, but also faith in enlightenment, in the book. Faith that awakened geniuses - such as Papanin. He, like Pogodin’s revolutionary sailor from “The Kremlin Chimes,” managed to read book after book - from Chekhov to Julius Caesar. They transformed the world. And we managed to do a lot! The discovery of the North Pole confirmed: man is capable of discoveries, capable of improving himself, society, and life. And “there are no fortresses that...” Even harsh nature is not capable of defeating a person moving towards his goal together with his comrades. This is a very, very Soviet story.

Papanin's expedition was considered one of the “Soviet miracles” - and rightfully so. Many people sought to open the North Pole - both Scandinavians and Americans, but only the Papanins succeeded. But this was a collective achievement, as it should be according to Soviet principles. Technical progress, put “on state lines,” came to the rescue. The country had planes and pilots capable of delivering heroes to the pole. Vodopyanov, who was the first to land a plane on an ice floe, is a full-fledged conqueror of the pole. The country already had icebreakers that could, when needed, return the expedition to the mainland. Let's add the political will of the leadership, for whom the conquest of the North was the key program of the second half of the 30s, and the propaganda skill of the “Pravdists”, “Izvestists”, the Komsomol press, radio employees...

By 1937, Papanin had shown himself to be a reliable organizer of dangerous expeditions; he had several wintering trips in the Arctic. He became close to the North in the mid-20s, when he supervised the construction of a radio station in Yakutia. He was the head of polar stations on Franz Josef Land and on Cape Chelyuskin - on the northernmost point of Eurasia.

Ivan Dmitrievich was proud that the expedition was equipped by Soviet industry. At the Leningrad Shipyard named after. Karakozov built special sledges that weighed only 20 kilograms. The tent was created at the Moscow Kauchuk plant from lightweight aluminum pipes and canvas walls, between which two layers of eiderdown were laid. Papanin also meticulously checked the rubber inflatable floor of the tent. Is it reliable? Convenient? After all, this is not a home for a week or a month. It’s not for nothing that Utesov’s song says: “The country sends us to drift into the distant sea... We’ll be home in a year!” Papanin also organized a drift rehearsal: in the Moscow region they set up their wonderful tent and opened canned food. It took several days for us to get used to each other and the tarpaulin house. The test went well: the cat did not run between friends, and no one questioned Papanin’s commanding authority.

The Papaninites worked almost like in outer space: in a confined space, in constant danger. Every step was an advance into the unknown, into the mysterious. This experience will be useful to astronauts at orbital stations and on multi-month expeditions. Ivan Dmitrievich himself prepared for the drift thoroughly: he even went through cook school. He treated supplies sparingly, as befits an experienced traveler.

There are legends about his resourcefulness: when the polar explorers needed alcohol, it turned out that there was only cognac on the ice floe. A whole barrel of excellent cognac! How to preserve samples of ocean fauna and flora without alcohol? And Papanin managed to extract alcohol from noble cognac - using a specially designed moonshine still. But he also left some cognac - and kept it until the victorious finale of the expedition. When the magnificent four were taken off the melted ice floe, Ivan Dmitrievich cheerfully treated his comrades to the same cognac. And this is also a manifestation of the character of the hereditary sailor, with whom Vsevolod Vishnevsky and Konstantin Trenev were friends. By the way, the sailor Shvandya from Lyubov Yarovaya is a young Papanin. Trenev knew who to write as a resilient hero.

In 274 days of dangerous drift, the station covered 2000 kilometers! This was not just a display of the flag at an open pole. Every day the four carried out research with the goal of opening the northern route for aviation and navigation. Every month Moscow received reports on scientific work.

In the Greenland Sea, by the end of January 1938, the ice floe had shrunk to the size of a volleyball court. Dangerous days and nights followed. Papanin telegraphed to Moscow: “As a result of a six-day storm, at 8 a.m. on February 1, in the area of ​​the station, the field was torn by cracks from half a kilometer to five. We are on a fragment of a field 300 meters long and 200 meters wide. Two bases were cut off, as well as a technical warehouse... There was a crack under the living tent. We will move to a snow house. I’ll give you the coordinates later today; If the connection is lost, please do not worry."

He didn't ask for anything, didn't cry out for help. But help has come! Already on February 19, two icebreakers - "Taimyr" and "Murman" - reached the Papanin ice floe... Every sailor wanted to visit the station, hug the winterers...

Papanin’s last appeal from the station was heard throughout the USSR: “Leaving the drifting ice floe, we leave the Soviet flag on it as a sign that we will never give up the conquest of the country of socialism to anyone!” They really believed in it. A unique generation, special people.

In the film “The Oath,” director Chiaureli showed the mystery of the people’s power. These are collective farmers in the Kremlin Palace, this is Budyonny’s dashing dance, this is the appearance of a leader. And - Papanin, who jokes with the boy. “Are you for real?” - “No, dear baby, I’m a toy, wind-up. When you turn this way, you’re off.” And - the hero comically skipped along the palace parquet floor. An actor was not needed, Ivan Dmitrievich himself appeared in the frame - and did not get lost among the people's artists. Porcelain figurines “Papanin and the Jolly Dog” also appeared on sale, it was national fame!.. But... Papanin built a rich dacha, Stalin visited him. After these gatherings, as the memoirists say, the dacha had to be handed over to a kindergarten.

Even after the ice floe, he worked efficiently and effectively. And at the head of the Northern Sea Route, and during the war years, when he spent days and nights in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, under bombs. The Germans wiped Murmansk off the face of the earth - they bombed it like Stalingrad, but did not break through to the ice-free port: Russia received strategically important cargo from England and the USA. Papanin led the defense and ensured the protection of the sea route. He promoted heroes and was a banner for many. The role of the GKO commissioner for transportation on the White Sea was not symbolic. Papanin's experience and his ability to look for non-standard moves came in handy. He received the shoulder straps of a rear admiral in 1943.

Film director Yuri Salnikov said: in 1985, shortly before his death, ninety-year-old Papanin grabbed him by the button and shouted in an old man’s drawling manner: “I want to live!”

He lived a long time, but he did not see the destruction of the country, he did not witness it. Luck was with the lover of life in this too. For him, the power remained young, daring - he once believed in it, served it, and proudly received its awards.

(14/26.11.1894-30.01.1986) - Arctic explorer, geographer, rear admiral. Born into a sailor's family. He headed the first Soviet drifting station “North Pole-1” (1937 - 38). Head of the “Glavsevmorput” (1939 - 46), during the Great Patriotic War, the State Defense Committee’s authorized representative for transportation in the North. Since 1951, head of the Department of Marine Expeditionary Works of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Director of the Institute of Biology of Inland Waters of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1952 - 72). Author of the books “Life on an Ice Floe” (1938) and “Ice and Fire” (1977).

Biography

Born on November 26, 1894 in Sevastopol in the family of a port sailor, who led a semi-beggarly existence, not even having their own home. They huddled in a strange structure of 4 walls, two of which were pipes, trying to earn at least a penny by helping their mother support her family. Ivan, the eldest of the children, especially suffered. The boy studied well, was first in the class in all subjects, for which he received an offer to continue his education at public expense. But the impressions of a poor and disenfranchised childhood will become decisive in the formation of his personality and character.

The most striking event, according to Papanin himself, was the uprising of sailors on the Ochakov in 1905. He sincerely admired the courage of the sailors who went to certain death. It was then that the future convinced revolutionary was formed in him. At this time, he was learning a trade and working in the factories of his native Sevastopol. By the age of 16, Ivan Papanin was among the best workers at the Sevastopol plant for the production of navigation devices. And at the age of 18, as the most capable, he was selected for further work at the shipbuilding plant in Revel (present-day Tallinn). At the beginning of 1915, Ivan Dmitrievich was drafted into the navy as a technical specialist. In October 1917, together with other workers, he went over to the side of the Red Guards and plunged headlong into revolutionary work. Returning from Revel to Sevastopol, Papanin actively participated in the establishment of Soviet power here. After the occupation of Crimea by German troops on the basis of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Ivan went underground and became one of the leaders of the Bolshevik partisan movement on the peninsula. Revolutionary professionals Mokrousov, Frunze, Kun entrust him with secret and difficult tasks. Over the years, he went through all imaginable difficulties - “fire, water, and copper pipes.”

In August 1920, a group of communists and military specialists from the Red Army, led by A. Mokrousov, landed in Crimea. Their task was to organize partisan warfare in Crimea. Papanin also joined Mokrousov. The rebel army they assembled dealt Wrangel serious blows. The White Guards had to withdraw troops from the front. To destroy the partisans, military units from Feodosia, Sudak, Yalta, Alushta, and Simferopol began to surround the forest. However, the partisan detachments managed to break out of the encirclement and retreat into the mountains. It was necessary to contact the command, report on the situation and coordinate their plans with the headquarters of the Southern Front. It was decided to send a reliable person to Soviet Russia. The choice fell on I.D. Papanin.

In the current situation, it was possible to get to Russia only through Trebizond. It was possible to agree with the smugglers that for a thousand Nikolaev rubles they would transport the person to the opposite shore of the Black Sea. The journey turned out to be long and unsafe. He managed to meet with the Soviet consul, who on the very first night sent Papanin on a large transport ship to Novorossiysk. And already in Kharkov he was received by the commander of the Southern Front, M.V. Frunze. Having received the necessary help, Papanin began to prepare for the return journey. In Novorossiysk he was joined by the future famous writer Vsevolod Vishnevsky.

It was November, the sea was constantly stormy, but there was no time to waste. One night, the paratroopers went to sea on the ships “Rion”, “Shokhin” and the boat where Papanin was located. They walked in the dark, with the lights extinguished, in the conditions of a severe storm. The boat circled for a long time, looking for “Rion” and “Shokhin” in the darkness, but, convinced of the futility of the search, it headed for the Crimea. On the way, we came across the White Guard ship “Three Brothers”. To prevent the crew from reporting the landing, the owner of the ship and his companion... were taken hostage, and the crew was given an ultimatum: not to approach the shore for 24 hours. The incessant storm exhausted everyone. In the dark we approached the village of Kapsikhor. They dragged all the cargo ashore. Replenished with local residents, the detachment of Mokrousov and Papanin moved towards Alushta, disarming the retreating White Guards along the way. On the approach to the city, the Red partisans linked up with units of the 51st Division of the Southern Front.

After the defeat of the last army of the white movement - Wrangel's army - Papanin was appointed commandant of the Crimean Extraordinary Commission (Cheka). During this work he received gratitude for saving confiscated valuables.

Needless to say, what the Cheka is, especially in Crimea. This organization was entrusted with an extremely important mission here - to physically destroy the remnants of the Whites, the flower of the Russian officers. Despite Frunze's promises to save their lives after they laid down their arms, about 60 thousand people were shot, drowned, or buried alive.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to trace the transformation of Papanin’s worldview during the terrible years of the revolution. But, undoubtedly, these bloody events left many scars on his heart. As the commandant of the Cheka, he saw and knew everything, but he did not write or say anything about it anywhere and never. He didn’t write, and he couldn’t write, because otherwise he would have been turned into “camp dust,” like many thousands of his comrades.

Of course, Ivan Dmitrievich, being a cheerful and friendly person by nature, conscientious and humane, could not help but think about what was happening. It is curious that it was Papanin who became the prototype of the sailor Shvandi in the play by playwright K. Trenev “Yarovaya Love”. He, of course, compared the ideals that the Bolsheviks called for and what happened in real life before his eyes and with his participation. He drew conclusions and decided to take an unexpected action, which can only be explained by changes in views on what was happening. He seriously decided to move away from politics and revolution and engage in science.

Without receiving special knowledge, having gone through the thorny path of self-education, he will reach significant scientific heights. Thus, Papanin’s “first” life was given to the revolution, and his “second” to science. His ideals drowned in the bloodstream of the Bolshevik Red Terror, and, realizing his guilt and repenting, he decides to disassociate himself from revolutionary violence. However, over the next four years, Papanin could not find a place for himself in the literal and figurative sense of the word.

Fate decreed that in the future I.D. Papanin will be treated kindly by Stalin, always being in his sight. For Papanin, the “second half” of life is much longer - as much as 65 years. He becomes the military commandant of the Ukrainian Central Executive Committee in Kharkov. However, by the will of fate, he again ended up in the Revolutionary Military Council of the Black Sea Fleet as a secretary, and in April 1922 he was transferred to Moscow as a commissar of the Administrative Department of the Glavmortekhkhozupra. The following year, having already been demobilized, he went to work in the system of the People's Commissariat of Posts and Telegraphs as a business manager and head of the Central Directorate of Paramilitary Security.

Papanin constantly changes jobs and places of residence. It’s as if something is tormenting him, for some reason his soul is hurting, he is looking for her reassurance and an activity where she would find peace, get the opportunity to temporarily detach herself from what she has experienced, come to her senses and figure everything out. And the North became such a place for him. Here, in 1925, Papanin began building a radio station in Yakutia and proved himself to be an excellent organizer and simply a person who can be trusted to resolve complex issues and who will never let you down, even in the most difficult conditions. It was for these qualities that the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks appointed him in 1937 as head of the polar station SP-1.

For Soviet Russia, the opening of permanent navigation of ships along the Northern Sea Route was of utmost importance. For this purpose, a special department was even created - Glavsevmorput. But to operate the route, it was necessary to conduct a series of multifaceted scientific research in the Arctic: to identify the presence of underwater currents, ice drift paths, the timing of their melting, and much more. To resolve these issues, it was necessary to land a scientific expedition directly on the ice floe. The expedition had to work on ice for a long time. The risk of dying in these extreme conditions was very high.

Perhaps no event between the two world wars attracted as much attention as the drift of the “Papanin Four” in the Arctic. Scientific work on the ice floe lasted 274 days and nights. At first it was a huge ice field of several square kilometers, and when the Papanins were removed from it, the size of the ice floe barely reached the area of ​​a volleyball court. The whole world followed the epic of the polar explorers, and everyone wanted only one thing - the salvation of people.

After this feat, Ivan Papanin, Ernst Krenkel, Evgeny Fedorov and Pyotr Shirshov turned into national heroes and became a symbol of everything Soviet, heroic and progressive. If you look at newsreel footage of how Moscow greeted them, it becomes clear what these names meant at that time. After the gala reception in Moscow there were dozens, hundreds, thousands of meetings throughout the country. The polar explorers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This was Papanin’s second such award - he received the first at the beginning of the drift.

This was in 1938, a terrible year for the country. At this time, thousands of people were destroyed, most of them constituting the intellectual elite of the people. The criterion for reprisals was one thing - the ability to provide not only active, but also passive resistance to the totalitarian regime. They dealt especially purposefully with those who established Soviet power, with the Bolsheviks of the first conscription. There is nothing surprising in this - the old guard could be the first to oppose the revision of Marxist-Leninist teachings, and therefore was subject to destruction. And Papanin would have been among these victims if he had not left the Cheka in 1921.

Papanin lived for another 40 years, filled with activities, events, and people. After drifting in the Arctic, he becomes first deputy and then head of the Main Northern Sea Route. Tasks of enormous national importance fell on his shoulders. Since the beginning of the war, he has been building a new port in Arkhangelsk, which was simply necessary to receive ships bringing cargo from the United States under Lend-Lease. He deals with similar problems in Murmansk and the Far East.

After the war, Ivan Dmitrievich again worked in the Main Northern Sea Route, and then created the scientific fleet of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1951, he was appointed head of the Department of Marine Expeditionary Works under the apparatus of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Papanin's merits were appreciated. Few people had such an “iconostasis” of awards as his. In addition to two titles of Hero of the Soviet Union, 9 Orders of Lenin and many other orders and medals, not only Soviet, but also foreign. He was also awarded the military rank of rear admiral and a scientist - Doctor of Geographical Sciences.

Probably, an outstanding person in any historical era and under any life circumstances is capable of realizing potential opportunities. The external outline of events, the framing of fate may be different, but the internal, decisive side remains constant. Firstly, this concerns efforts to achieve basic goals, and secondly, the ability to remain a person of high moral principles under any historical conditions. Papanin's life is a clear confirmation of this.

I.D. died Papanin in January 1986. His name is immortalized three times on a geographical map. The waters of the polar seas are plied by ships named in his honor. He is an honorary citizen of Sevastopol, his hometown, in which one of the streets bears the name of Papanin.

Bibliography

• "Life on an Ice Floe" (1938)
• "Ice and Fire" (1977)

Awards, prizes and memberships

• Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1937, 1940)
• 9 Orders of Lenin (1937, 1938, May 1944, November 1944, 1945, 1956, 1964, 1974, 1984)
• Order of the October Revolution (1971)
• 2 Orders of the Red Banner (1922, 1950)
• Order of Nakhimov, 1st class (1945)
• Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (1985)
• 2 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1955, 1980)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1982)
• Order of the Red Star (1945)
• Medal "For Military Merit"
• Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
• Medal "20 years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"
• other medals, foreign awards.
• Doctor of Geographical Sciences (1938)
• Rear Admiral (1943)
• Honorary citizen of the hero city of Murmansk (1974)
• Honorary citizen of the city of Arkhangelsk (1975)
• Honorary citizen of the hero city Sevastopol (1979)
• Honorary citizen of the city of Lipetsk
• Honorary citizen of the Yaroslavl region

Memory

The following are named after Papanin:

• cape on the Taimyr Peninsula
• mountains in Antarctica
• seamount in the Pacific Ocean
• Institute of Inland Water Biology
• streets in the Moscow district of Lianozovo, Lipetsk, Murmansk, Yekaterinburg, Izmail and Yubilein (Korolev, Moscow region), Yaroslavl
• scientific and sports expedition.

• There is a memorial plaque installed on the house on Arbat where Papanin lived.
• In 1954, a monument to him was erected in Sevastopol.
• In 2003, a monument was opened in Murmansk.