Day in the history of the Jewish Autonomous Region
Photo: Regional Library
December 1, 1934
The regional Red Cross Society was approved by the resolution of the organizing bureau of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) of the Jewish Autonomous Region.
Throughout its history, the society changed its name several times. At the moment it is called the regional branch in the Jewish Autonomous Region of the all-Russian public organization “Russian Red Cross”.
The main activities of the Red Cross are:
- training in first aid skills and rules of patient care,
- popularization of voluntary free donation (blood and bone marrow),
- promotion of a healthy lifestyle,
- providing social assistance to people in need,
- fight against especially dangerous diseases (HIV, tuberculosis, etc.),
- preparing the population to overcome the consequences of natural disasters, environmental, man-made disasters, other emergencies and armed conflicts,
- material, legal and psychological assistance to refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, forced migrants and representatives of vulnerable groups of the population, etc.
For many years, the regional Red Cross Society was headed by Maya Aleksandrovna Surits, an Honorary Citizen of the city of Birobidzhan. In 2022, Olga Gennadievna Mikhna became the chairman of the regional organization.
December 7, 1944
Day in the history of the Jewish Autonomous Region. Photo: Photo: Regional Library
The newspaper “Stalin's Word” (now the newspaper “District Bulletin” (12+)) for December 7, 1944 wrote:
“On December 1, 1944, a plenum of the Smidovichi district committee of the CPSU (b) was held, which discussed the issue of the growth of the ranks of the CPSU (b) and the political self-education of young communists. Noting the significant growth of the district party organization during the Great Patriotic War, the plenum obliged the primary party organizations to take measures to improve educational work with those newly joining the party, to involve them in active party and socio-political life, and to ensure the deployment of party forces in decisive areas of production.”
On December 1, 1946, the newspaper “Birobidzhanskaya Zvezda” (12+) in an article by N. Solovyov “The Seal of Wretchedness and Lack of Culture” raised questions about the poor conditions and cramped rooms for the city House of Pioneers and Schoolchildren. Here's how the article talked about it:
“…the guys gathered for an art studio lesson. The crowding was impossible. Thirty people sat at a table, on the windows, on a sofa, or even just on the floor. In this position they learn to draw… There is a more spacious room nearby, but it is empty: there is no table or chairs there. It is absolutely impossible to hold any events designed for a wider range of participants. There are no more than twenty chairs for the entire House (of the Pioneers). In the reading room, chess room and others There are none in the rooms at all. The existing furniture is beaten and worn out. In the lobby there is a single table on three legs, the fourth one is replaced by a gnarled log… Two old stools, placed one on top of the other, serve as a flower bed for the only flower in the whole house. You will not find any paintings or other decorations here, and there are even only two dozen books in the reading room. The reading room, in fact, does not work.”
