At the House-Museum of A.P. Chekhov presented the book “Nikolai Deshkin. Life in occupied Yalta. Diary of 1941–1944″

The book is based on the diaries of Nikolai Andreevich Deshkin, who almost daily, at his own peril and risk, recorded and described everything that happened for almost 900 days — until his liberation. Using specific examples, he described the crimes of the occupiers, the courage of the Yalta residents and the life of the city as a whole. Decades later, the manuscripts came to his great-grandson, who was inspired by the idea of ​​publishing the diaries and personally deciphered the handwritten text without semantic editing. He also supplemented the book with unique photographs of Yalta from the 40s and 50s, which he specially bought at auctions. The staff of the Yalta Historical and Literary Museum, local historians and researchers provided great assistance in the work.

According to Alexander Gavrelyuk, the book contains a wealth of, largely previously unknown, information about significant events not only in Yalta, but also in Crimea in 1941–1944. Alexander Gavrelyuk also supplemented his story with a slide film with documentary photographs of Yalta from the 1930s to the 1950s.

The head and editor-in-chief of the Koktebel Publishing House, Dmitry Losev (Feodosia), noted that Deshkin’s Diary is the most valuable historical source and the only known and relatively complete chronicle of the occupied city of Crimea. The book was also supplemented by an article by Doctor of Historical Sciences Oleg Romanko “Crimea under German occupation” and newspaper materials from the period of occupation from the funds of the State Archives of the Republic of Crimea.

The presentation was attended by representatives of the regional branch of the Russian movement of children and youth “Movement of the First Yalta”, museum workers, local historians, representatives of the city leadership and residents of Yalta.

source: Information Policy Department of the Yalta City Administration