Implementation of the Master plan for the restoration and development of Leningrad in terms of organizing cultural and educational work in 1945

Abstract

After the Great Patriotic War, the interest towards the history of the city increased among Leningraders, also the regional cultural identity developed, reinforced by the tragic experience of the siege. During this period, the organization of cultural and educational work in Leningrad became one of the most important activities of local authorities. The article is devoted to aspects of the implementation of the cultural and educational policy in Leningrad in 1945, viewed through the prism of the key principles reflected in the Master Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of Leningrad. The main emphasis in the article is made on the consideration of organizational issues that were under the jurisdiction of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council of Workers’ Deputies. Even before the end of the war, on March 15, 1945, the Department of Cultural and Educational Work was formed. The key vectors of work were: to restore the tourism potential of the suburbs of Leningrad, organization of museum work in terms of preserving the memory of the Great Patriotic War and the blockade, erection of memorials dedicated to the Leningrad epic… The post-war Master Plan was not fully implemented because of the Leningrad affair. This research problem has not been studied enough, although certain aspects of the topic were reflected in historical, museological and cultural literature. The source base for the study was the regulatory and legal materials and office documentation of the Leningrad City Executive Committee of the 1940s, materials from periodicals, data from official museum sites.