NIZHNY NOVGOROD, GORKY AND AGAIN NIZHNY NOVGOROD




SOVIET UNION AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION

After the October Revolution (October 25 in the old era, November 7, 1917 according to the new Gregorian calendar), things also became restless in Nizhny Novgorod. In the autumn of 1917 the Communists came to power here too.

In the early Soviet period we still find letters with the historic name Nizhny Novgorod in the stamps. Letters with postmarks from the fair from the Soviet period are very difficult to find, as business during the fair was not nearly as good as during the imperial period. The fair closed in 1929.
However, an association was founded in 1991 with the name Nizhegorodskaya yarmarka. The head office was located in the former main exchange building. Nowadays, however, it is not really a fair, but an exhibition center.

On October 7, 1932 the name of the city changed. Maksim Gorky, born in Nizhny Novgorod, was officially recognized as a proletarian Soviet writer in 1932. Josef Stalin renamed the city after Gorky and this is reflected in the postmarks. Maksim Gorky (1868-1936) wrote the first Russian book with a proletarian factory worker as the hero: 'The Mother' (1907). Disappointed in the revolution, he emigrated to Italy in 1921. Due to the rising fascism, he decided to return permanently in 1931 to support the Soviet Union and the Soviet regime wherever possible.


Postmark of Gorky on a postcard to Belgium.
The new name of the city is reflected in the postmarks. Here the designation is ГОРЬКИЙ 1e ГОР. ОТД. [GORKII 1st GOR. O.T.D.]. ГОР. Is the abbreviation for город, city. ОТД. Is the abbreviation for ОТДЬЛЕНIЕ [OTDLENIE], Department. A city post office.


The postmark on this card to France has the indication ГОРЬКИЙ 5.



'Bildseitig'-franked postcards often have a somewhat clearer postmark on the address side: at the bottom is the indication СВЕРДЛ Р-Н = Свердловский район = Sverd lovsky District = Nizhny Novgorod district, which existed in the period 1930-1956.



The postmark on the address-side, resized 50 %.





Nizhny Novgorod is a big city (1.257 million in 2012): so there are a lot of postmarks from the Soviet period after the Second World War. Here Gorky 72.





Postal stationery - Gorky theme - issued 10/XII-69. The letter is franked with Mi. 3911. This postage stamp was issued August 3, 1971: 750 years of the city of Gorky with an image of the Kremlin (of Gorky), the city coat of arms and a hydrofoil. On the postage stamp: ГОРЬКИЙ КРЕМЛЬ [GORKII KREML].
The occasional stamp of the Gorky post office also commemorates 750 years of the city of Gorky.


A second postage stamp has been issued to commemorate 750 years of the city of Gorky: Mi. 3922, issued September 14, 1971. The postage stamp, on the postal stationery shown here, shows the memorial to Maksim Gorky in his hometown. The statue can be found on Gorky Square.
Stalin felt that his most admired author deserved more honor, and so a competition was announced in 1939 to erect a monument to Maksim Gorky. Vera Mukhina was given the assignment. The monument would not be built until 1952, as World War II interrupted all plans for its erection. The postal stationery, issued 28/VI-73, has a Gorky registering stamp and shows a building in Gorky: Caption "Gorky. House of communication", built 1933-1936.






The postal stationery shown here on the right was issued on 4-1-1958. The caption reads: Г. (ГОРОД [GOROD], city) ГОРЬКИЙ [GORKII]. MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD A.M. GORKI "KASHIRIN'S HOUSE". Maksim Gorky is the pseudonym for Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov. The museum opened on January 1, 1938. It was the home of Gorky's grandfather. Maksim Gorky lost his parents at an early age and was partly raised by his grandfather. The house was given this name in honor of his grandfather - Vasily Vasilyevich Kashirin, where little Alyosha Peshkov lived from August 1871 to April 1872. About this place was written in his autobiographical novel "Childhood".

Printing details on the back.



Maksim Gorky was also honored with postage stamps in the Soviet Union: below is a postal item with Mi. 3475, issued February 29, 1968 on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

This postal stationery also shows an image from the Г. (ГОРОД [GOROD], city) ГОРЬКИЙ [GORKII]. The postal item was issued on October 13, 1976. Further on the piece is the registration postmark of Gorki and a special postmark: Volga river shipping company MV Kuz'ma Minin At the bottom are the sender's details and can be recognized here: КОЗЬМА МИНИН [Kozma Minin]. It is probably this ship,built in 1960 (?).
The sender still writes: on board on the Volga. motor ship Kozma Minin. Also about this ship



Postal stationery here on the right, issued 20/V-68, with an image of Gorky. The occasion postmark is from 1971: 750 years of the city of Gorky.


In 1990 the city regained its original name. On this postage stamp of the Russian Federation we see the indication 'НИЖЕГОРОДСКИЙ КРЕМЛЬ' [NIZHEGORODSKII KREML], the Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod.

We also see the old name again in the modern stamps, such as in the letter below.

Letter from НИЖНIЙ НОВГОРОДЪ [NIZHNII NOVGOROD] to St. Petersburg, 11-10-1996.