Library, Chechen State University

[Bryon]

Hello, all.

The message below is being circulated by the Grozny office of Memorial, the human rights organization in Russia. Although it says that the "action" will be coming to an end at the end of the month, the library at Chechen State University (referred to here as Grozny University) will be in need of books for a long time to come. (I was there last October, and the library is essentially a reading room about the size of a two-car garage with books spread out among storage rooms on the grounds of a former state orphanage, now the main campus. The university was destroyed during the first war, along with the city's archives.) In short, they need everything. The library has about one textbook for every three students; many are old, Soviet-era books grounded in Marxism-Leninism. In addition to Russian-language titles, the university needs books in foreign languages (there are no language labs, only a cassette recorder that students bought with their own money). 

The mailing address is noted below. (It might increase the probability of delivery if it were restructured as: Russia, Republic of Chechnya, 364051 g. Grozny, ulitsa Mayakovskogo 84, "Memorial") If the post office won't accept packages for Grozny, books can also be sent to the Memorial office in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia: Russia, Republic of Ingushetia, 386100 g. Nazran, Mutalieva 46, "Memorial"

Bryon (MacWilliams)
Russia/CIS correspondent, The Chronicle of Higher Education

PS If someone would like a copy of the message below in Russian, just e-mail me with a return address at bryon at online.ru.

 
PEACE TO OUR PLANET

 

Grozny University Is Alive!

Destroyed buildings, burnt down library, sounds of shooting from outside..

But long-lived is desire to study. 

School is the light in the tunnel for many young people in Chechnya

 

10.000 students and 11 departments work in the wartime conditions:

departments of history, philology, Roman-Germanic philology, geography, journalism, physics and math, finances and economy, drama, legal studies, chemical-biological department, medical department.

DEAR FRIENDS!

HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER <MEMORIAL> INVITES YOU TO JOIN OUR NEW YEAR'S ACTION

<PEACE TO OUR PLANET> 

 

New Year is a happy holiday

Your kind words will warm someone's heart in Chechnya

 

SEND A NEW YEARS GREETING OR/ AND A BOOK TO THE STUDENTS and PROFESSORS

 OF CHECHEN STATE UNIVERSITY! 

 

The university library has virtually no literature in foreign languages, is lacking in dictionaries and specialized literature. 

 

Your postcards will be translated and posted on a special exhibit at the university library. 

 

The action will run in December and January

 

LET THEM KNOW THEY ARE NOT  ALONE!

Please, send  your greetings and books to "Memorial",  364051 Mayakovskogo str., 84, Grozny, Chechen Republic, Russia. If you wish to otherwise support the university or its individual students, please, write to memorial at southnet.ru  with the headline "PEACE TO OUR PLANET".


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