Dzerzhinsk (Rastyapino, Dust) — the second-largest city in the Nizhny Novgorod by population, after the regional capital. Dzerzhinsk is home to approximately 262,000 people. It is known for its numerous chemical plants, including facilities that have produced chemical warfare agents.
The distance from Dzerzhinsk to Nizhny Novgorod is 40 km.
About the city
Dzerzhinsk is a chemist's city, a city of the chemical industry. Beyond the city limits lie numerous factories — too many to count — each harmful and useful in its own way. Useful in that they produce a great many goods for the market economy, yet highly damaging to people's health. To offset this somewhat, the city of Dzerzhinsk is amply planted with greenery.
Nearly every year, various shrubs, saplings, and flowers in flowerbeds are planted. The air there is not as clean and fresh as in Zhelnino — everywhere there is bustle, even people are always rushing somewhere, hurrying about — but even here one can find a quiet, peaceful corner to reflect in, and at times the silence can feel almost unsettling. The city also has quite a number of attractions: a puppet theatre and a drama theatre, monuments to Lenin and Mayakovsky, cinemas, and local history museums — plenty to see and admire. In recent years many entertainment centres have appeared where residents can spend their leisure time pleasantly and usefully. The city administration has not forgotten the younger residents either. Courtyard playgrounds are being attractively laid out and bright new play equipment is appearing. The residents themselves make a major contribution to the city's development and prosperity.
History
Chernorech'ye… Virgin conifer forests, birch and oak groves, the full-flowing Oka, numerous lakes and streams, water meadows overgrown with bird cherry, currant, and blackberry bushes, sandy beaches, and CLEAN AIR — all of this drew the attention of city dwellers. The dachas of Rastyapino, Zhelnino, and Babushkino were favoured retreats for residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Nizhny Novgorod.
The residents of the village of Rastyapino petitioned to name their settlement after Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, the "knight of the revolution," in order to immortalise his memory — despite the fact that Dzerzhinsky had never once visited these parts. The Rastyapino residents' request was granted, and on 22 June 1929 the Central Executive Committee of the USSR confirmed the decree renaming the workers' settlement of Rastyapino and the Rastyapino railway station as the settlement and station of Dzerzhinsk.
"Where this backwater settlement stands, Soviet Power has resolved to build a major industrial city… A few more years, and you will not recognise your settlement…" — the words of the "all-union elder" M. I. Kalinin, spoken at a rally before the residents of the Rastyapino settlement, proved prophetic.
Already on 30 March 1930, by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee signed by M. I. Kalinin, it was resolved: "The workers' settlement of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod Krai shall be elevated to the status of the city of Dzerzhinsk." The favourable geographical position of Chernorech'ye — good transport links (water, rail, and road), the availability of natural resources (water, timber, peat), and proximity to a major trading centre (Nizhny Novgorod) — was what brought chemical production to the area at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Sights
On the left bank of the Oka, below the Dudenevsky backwater, stands a unique architectural structure belonging to Dzerzhinsk: a 128-metre open-lattice steel tower built to the design of V. G. Shukhov.
Monument to F. E. Dzerzhinsky — The monument to F. E. Dzerzhinsky, crafted from forged bronze, was erected in 1947 in a small park on the square that bears the name of the faithful knight of the revolution (the monument's creators were sculptor S. Merkurov and architect A. Kusakina).
Dzerzhinsky Square is a historic square. On 7 November 1929, the foundation stone of the new city was laid here.
The Local History Museum — The Dzerzhinsk Local History Museum has existed since 1932. Its building was constructed in the early 1950s to a design by architect A. Kusakina. The museum's exhibitions and collections include archaeological material from local Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, from Slavic settlements of the ninth and tenth centuries, personal ornaments from burial grounds, collections of tools and equipment used in the cottage industry of fishing-net weaving, and examples of boat-building — the work of the former inhabitants of Chernorech'ye.
The Chemists' Palace of Culture — The Chemists' Palace of Culture, built in 1959, is the leading cultural institution in the city of Dzerzhinsk. It houses numerous clubs and hobby groups. In addition to a theatre hall seating 900, the Chemists' Palace of Culture has a sports hall and lecture halls.
The Dzerzhinsk Drama Theatre — The distinctive building of the Dzerzhinsk Drama Theatre is very striking. It was constructed on Pobedy Avenue in 1980 (architects G. Gorlyshkov and N. Shebalina). The theatre features a spacious, light-filled foyer. The auditorium is hexagonal in shape. Great attention in the design was paid to the hall's acoustic properties. Its ceiling consists of four distinctive panels. Sets are assembled on the upper floors and then lowered onto the stage ready-made; the orchestra pit is retractable.
Interesting facts
- Beyond Samokhalov Street lies a curious quarter of giant high-rise buildings (archive). Viewed from the air, they spell out the abbreviation USSR». The buildings that form the letter "С" in plan face both Petrishcheva Street and Budyonny Street, which creates confusion in the numbering. The "С"-shaped buildings enclose large courtyards containing children's facilities. The letter "R" is less striking and is made up of 12 separate structures. This quarter is a vivid example of architects' search for new forms of expression within the constraints of standardised mass construction.
Features of the shadow economy in Dzerzhinsk
Curiously, while in other large cities people who choose to enter the shadow economy tend to pursue whatever illegal activity comes to hand, in Dzerzhinsk the imagination of those in the shadows consistently gravitates toward the illegal disposal of environmentally hazardous waste.
The city sits just 40 kilometres from Nizhny Novgorod, upstream along the Oka, which supplies water to most of the city's districts, while Dzerzhinsk's industrial zones are even closer. Moreover, given that air masses in our region predominantly move from west to east, the city's air also receives its share of pollution.
A case study from Dzerzhinsk's shadow economy
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An illegal dump has been discovered consisting of disassembled refrigeration equipment. The insulation from the refrigerators is being burned on site. It appears that the activity is being conducted by a used-refrigerator collection point located in a neighbouring garage. I request that urgent measures be taken. Coordinates: Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russia 56°15′11″N, 43°25′39″E — 56.253051, 43.427466 | 
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Your complaint submitted via the Nizhny Novgorod Region Ministry of Ecology's "Green Phone" hotline, No. 3816, concerning the burning and stockpiling of decommissioned household refrigerators, was investigated by specialists of the Dzerzhinsk Inter-District Division of Regional State Environmental Supervision and Environmental Protection of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Ministry of Natural Resources during an inspection conducted on 29.03.2017 at 12:00. The individual responsible for these actions has been identified and held administratively liable under Article 8.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation — failure to comply with environmental requirements in the handling of production and consumption waste and other hazardous substances. Dzerzhinsk Inter-District Division of Regional State Environmental Supervision and Environmental Protection, Nizhny Novgorod Region Ministry of Natural Resources
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Accidental activation of the mass-alert siren and residents' reaction
Given the nature of Dzerzhinsk's industry, one might expect civil emergency alert systems and public response to potential industrial accidents to be of the highest standard. Yet at 2:30 a.m. on 18 April 2017, the city's alert sirens were triggered by a malfunction. While on the city's outskirts some people at least began to ask what was happening, in the residential neighbourhoods many simply ignored the incident. The situation perfectly illustrates the principles of how power is organised and how it interacts with the factor of industrial disasters and conditions that lead to greater numbers of casualties. When social consensus is built around the idea of entrusting all power to the state — that is, in practice, to the most assertive activists who are inclined to impersonate that state while extracting concrete personal benefit from doing so — the result is that a large portion of society adopts a mode of behaviour characterised by complete passivity, waiting for comprehensive service "from the state" and taking no initiative of its own. Such a society may formally appear "more disciplined" (simply because very little happens, at least outside the circle living in luxury), but when confronted with unusual circumstances it proves defenceless to one degree or another.