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Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois - e-architect
Designed by RAMSA, the project builds on key elements of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry's master plan to create a fully accessible
Jackson science museum plans holiday camps, scuba Santa and winter events
The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science will host holiday camps, live animal programs and scuba-diving Santa in Jackson.
Space shuttle Endeavour launches its final chapter at the CA Science Center. How to explore its home
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is a major expansion to the museum. General admission is free.
Bradbury Science Museum Presents ‘Night With A Nerd: Neuromorphic Artificial Intelligence Wednesday Nov. 4.
BRADBURY SCIENCE MUSEUM NEWS RELEASE The Bradbury Science Museum will present ‘Night with a Nerd: Neuromorphic Artificial Intelligence’ 6-8 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 4. The community is encouraged t…
Science Museum of Minnesota to make heavy cuts
Some 32 positions will be cut, restructured or remain unfilled, and touring exhibits will sunset.
Southeastern Tile Connection Sponsors Asheville Museum of Science's Under the Stars
Southeastern Tile Connection sponsors AMOS's 10th-anniversary gala, Under the Stars, on Nov. 6 to support hands-on STEM education across Western North Carolina.
Ray Romano, who played a Newsday sportswriter on 'Everybody Loves Raymond," inducted in Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame
The "Everybody Loves Raymond" star is the museum's first nonmusical honoree in its 22-year history.
With A Yield Of 6.2%, Is It Time To Buy This Entertainment REIT?
The portfolio for EPR Properties stock ranges from casino resorts to amusement parks, and on to cinemas, its largest segment.
Boston's Museum Of Science Puts Creators At The Center Of Its Global Ambitions
The Museum of Science used its first SciCom Summit on November 2 to put other people’s channels at the center of its strategy. The invite-only gathering in Boston brought science creators and scientists into the museum’s new Bloomberg Public Science Common, on the bet that a museum reaches the world by convening the people who already reach it.
Business Profile: Sunflower Art Studio
Lika Gitis, the owner of Sunflower Art Studio in Gunbarrel, approaches art and life with unconcealed zeal. Gitis populates her studio with imaginative mascots including a 3D-printed Totoro (from Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film) and a plush Van Gogh from the Denver Art Museum's exhibition of the painter. "They move around," she explained. But not, thankf...
Ray Romano inducted into Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame
The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame inducted Ray Romano as its first nonmusical honoree in the museum's 22-year history Thursday.
Motown Museum’s Hitsville U.S.A. tours to resume next month ahead of expansion’s 2027 debut
Motown Museum will reopen the one-time home of Motown Records to visitors as work continues on $75 million campus expansion.
"Cars That Moved America" automotive exhibition coming to Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
The technological evolution of the automobile has been the subject of some kind of exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry going back more or less forever, but next year, a new approach to the subject with a new collection is coming.
Meta says US users can now video chat with their Muse AI avatar
Meta's AI agent can now take calls as a customizable animated avatar, ahead of the launch of a Tamagotchi-like wearable designed to bring Muse to life.
Sydney's new $641m Powerhouse arts and science museum to open amid crisis
Due to open on 7 November, the space is mired in controversy as senior executives stand aside during an ongoing misconduct and procurement investigation
Science Museum Of Minnesota Announces More Job Cuts, Ends Longtime Program
The St. Paul museum is also counting on a Hollywood blockbuster to help bring in money. Here's what's changing.
Column: Bringing in a new era of Bighorn Rendezvous
This year marks the beginning of a new era of the Bighorn Rendezvous, as The Brinton Museum adds a new residency program in coordination with the annual exhibition and Quickdraw,
Meta introduces Spaces, a new way to collaborate with your Muse agent
Meta's Muse agents continue to get new features and integrations. Spaces promises to be a new way to interact with the AI helpers.
\'Hershey\' film to have red-carpet premiere at Hershey Theatre; nearby museum has exhibit on movie
Milton S. Hershey learned the candy business when he was an apprentice in Lancaster, and later had his first success as a candymaker with his Lancaster Caramel Co.
Museum of Science Opens New Pathways into Science for Audiences with NOVA, Cody Rigsby, and a Dancer-and-Robot Duet
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 4, 2026--
Egyptian cats meant for the gods led harsh lives, extensive museum collection reveals
More than 2,000 years ago, Egyptians offered cats to the gods. Now, a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science suggests that even cats destined for the gods did not necessarily live ...
Entertainment or exploitation? The uncomfortable truth about reality TV
These are real people, thrust into unnatural – sometimes dangerous – situations, for our amusement
Denis Villeneuve and Vija Celmins honored at LACMA’s Art + Film gala
The 15th annual Art+Film Gala at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art honored artist Vija Celmins and filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, with musical guest Rosé.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Celebrates 40 years of discovery
By Sara Atencio-Gonzales, The Paper. – From prehistoric fossils to the mysteries of outer space, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has spent four decades bringing the state’s scientific history to life. Now, as the museum celebrates its 40th anniversary, staff members are reflecting on its evolution while preparing several special events […]
Houston's Health Museum Opens Permanent Exhibit Exploring the Science of Sound Perception
Houston's Health Museum is opening a permanent, multi-sensory exhibit exploring the science of sound perception, auditory health, and the Perception Box framework.
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science announces 2026 holiday events
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – This holiday season, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks’ (MDWFP) Museum of Natural Science will invite visitors of all ages to experience a f…
Marquette graduate students bring science to life for middle school students through MUSE program
For middle school students, science can sometimes feel like a collection of facts in a textbook. Through the Marquette University Science Exchange Program (MUSE), two Marquette University doctoral students are helping students see science as something they can explore, question and experience for themselves. Led by Zebadiah (Zeb) Boos and Wanda Sihanath, doctoral students in…
K. Michelle Earns Nashville Museum Honor for Country Debut
After years of defending her place in country music, K. Michelle reaches a new milestone in her push for Black representation in the genre.
Some N.C. hemp businesses are starting to shut down
Plus: Data centers to hit the grid next year, Duke says; Data gives details on Tuesday's local voting; CMS releases acting superintendent's salary; Nature Museum plan
Science Museum of Minnesota gets $2.5M to expand STEM resources for rural educators through network of centers
Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land could see $4M in renovations
Museum Executive Director Kavita Self asked the city of Sugar Land to fund part of a proposed $4 million renovation project to upgrade exhibits and accessibility.
WATCH | Mid-America Science Museum’s annual fundraiser Taste of the Holidays offers food and drink, silent auction
The 25th annual Taste of the Holidays is set for 6 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 19 at Mid-America Science Museum and is viewed by many residents as the kickoff to the holiday season in Hot Springs.
Milwaukee Bobblehead Museum adds Governor-elect David Crowley to political collection
A new line of bobbleheads from Milwaukee’s National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum will feature Governor-elect David Crowley along with other recent winners in the midterm elections. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum was founded in 2014 in Milwaukee. As its name suggests, it cre
Cal Academy exhibit highlights science exploration
West-side museum's new endeavor a collaboration with The Jim Henson Company.
Scientists identify a completely new type of rock in a Martian meteorite and find garnet on Mars for the first time, but its planetary origin remains unconfirmed
An international team of scientists has identified a completely new type of rock on Mars and, for the first time, found the mineral garnet in a Martian sample. The discovery came from a fragment of the Martian meteorite NWA 8171, held in the Royal Ontario Museum’s collections, and was led by Tanya Kizovski of Brock University.
'In Good Company' Exhibit Illustrates Local Arts Community
Peter Peter Horjus' whimsical artwork is titled 'Big Catch.' (Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art) The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art celebrates local
Eastern Bank Provides Tax-Exempt Financing for New Public Science Venue at Museum of Science
BOSTON– Eastern Bank is providing tax-exempt bond financing as the sole lender for the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Science Common, a new 10,000-square-foot civic space at Boston’s Museum of […]
Meteorite that crashed through Spring-area home goes on display at Houston Museum of Natural Science
The space rock is part of the Houston Museum of Natural Science's "Fall to Earth" exhibit, which follows the meteorite's incredible journey through space.
Join for the 2026 Hope Gala by Mercy Health Foundation
Mercy Health Foundation invites you to the 2026 Hope Gala on Nov. 21 at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
Meta's Muse AI Agent Comes to Apple Watch
Meta today updated the Muse app for iOS to add Apple Watch support, which means Muse users can access the proactive AI agent from the watch. The app adds the Muse character to the watch with an option to text it, dictate text to it, or call it. There's also a Muse complication for quick access. Muse is Meta's personal AI agent that can complete tasks for users. It is available as a standalone app and is also built into Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta apps.
Advertising IP Is the New Entertainment IP
Picture it. A major pop culture or comic convention has taken over a city's hotel conference rooms, hallways and lobbies. The space buzzes with energy as badge-wearing attendees move from panels to vendor booths, stopping to shop, snap photos or simply to people watch. Everywhere you look, fans are dressed as their favorite characters, brought
Scientists anchor first scientific animal name to a modern-day spider
Scientists led by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History have restored the physical reference of one of the most historically significant names in biology. In a paper published in Taxonomy, ...
Anne Frank exhibit at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry underlines the widespread appeal of denialism
The routine objects and ordinary facts of Anne Frank's life are part of what makes her story so compelling. Objects and facts that are rejected by those who refuse to understand the lesson she offers.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science celebrates 40th anniversary with community
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science celebrated a big milestone with the community Saturday. The museum’s 40th anniversary happened back in January while und...
Natural History Museum of Utah hosts first of its kind ‘ScienceFest’
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Visitors at the Natural History Museum of Utah had the opportunity to meet scientists and learn about research as a part of “ScienceFest” this weekend. The event offered ...
49th annual Model Railroad Show will return to Science Museum of Virginia
All aboard! The 49th annual Model Railroad Show will return to the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond in late November.
San Antonio science org boots up new Techtopia museum
If the boop-eeeEEEeeee-kshhhhhhh of dial-up internet brings a tear to your eye, Alamo City has something to download. The San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT) has opened Techtopia Museum, a new space showcasing late founder David Monroe’s trove of historical gadgets.
Join Voices for Hope on Nov. 13: Creating a Healthier Houston Together
Avenue 360's Voices for Hope gala comes to Hotel ZaZa Museum District Nov. 13 with a Broadway-inspired night supporting HIV care, hospice and more.
Pens Points: B’s throttle Penguins for fourth straight loss
Here are your Pens Points for this Friday morning… The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered their fourth consecutive loss on Thursday, falling 6-2 to the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena. [Recap] Penguins head coach Dan Muse has defended Declan Carlile amid criticism of his recent play. While acknowledging Carlile has struggled in key situations and has […]
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Celebrates 40 years of discovery
By Sara Atencio-Gonzales, The Paper. – From prehistoric fossils to the mysteries of outer space, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has spent four decades bringing the state’s scientific history to life. Now, as the museum celebrates its 40th anniversary, staff members are reflecting on its evolution while preparing several special events…
California’s Great America Closing for Good in 2027
The amusement park is a Bay Area entertainment landmark for the young and young at heart. But it has been on borrowed time for years.
Science Museum Of Minnesota Gets $2.5M To Build STEM Resource Centers Across Greater Minnesota
Big news for rural classrooms: the Science Museum of Minnesota lands 2.5 million in federal funding to build five new Regional STEM Educator Resource Centers across greater Minnesota.
Scientists discover one of world’s oldest insects in museum
Scientists have identified one of the oldest known insects in the world, a 324-million-year-old fossil that sat in storage at the San Diego Natural History Museum for decades after being classified as...
Premier League Team of the Week: Our Best XI
The Premier League served up another weekend of drama, surprise results and standout individual performances. From statement victories to impressive displays from players across the division, there wa...
Scott Parker 'very confident' of promotion after West Ham appointment
Scott Parker has said he is delighted to return to West Ham after being appointed as the club's new manager.Parker replaces Nuno Espirito Santo as manager at the London Stadium, followingthe latter's ...
75 million-year-old dinosaur fossil in North Carolina science museum
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is housing a newly discovered 75 million-year-old dinosaur fossil that was found in Utah.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science celebrates 40 years
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science marked its 40th anniversary with free theater and planetarium shows, hands-on activities and giveaways
Big discoveries, little scientists: ScienceFest returns to Salt Lake City
Natural History Museum of Utah hosts two-day event featuring science demonstrations, workshops and activities for all ages
A Quantum Computer Is Now On Display At Busan’s National Science Museum
A quantum computer is now on display at Busan’s National Science Museum, part of the new “Quantum Magic School” program.
Pollsters, data centers and fraud risk: CT politics news
Plus: A Connecticut museum wins Award of Merit and CVS breakup raises questions for Hartford
You can edit your videos with AI on Instagram’s new desktop Edits app
Would you let Muse edit your Reels?
Managers with the best win percentages in La Liga history
Winning consistently in La Liga is no easy feat, particularly in a division dominated by two of world football's biggest clubs. Yet a select group of managers have maintained remarkable records in Spa...
Don’t believe your eyes. Sacramento’s newest museum is full of mind-bending illusions
Gravity-defying rooms, dizzying tunnels and optical tricks await at the new Museum of Illusions in Sacramento’s DOCO. Take a look inside.
TwinkleTwinkleStar announces strategic collaboration with U.K.-based Ventola Projects to transform party room entertainment
TwinkleTwinkleStar announces a strategic collaboration with Ventola Projects Ltd., a United Kingdom-based specialist in LED lighting, immersive technology, audiovisual solutions, and entertainment …
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science celebrates 40th anniversary with community
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science celebrated a big milestone with the community Saturday. The museum’s 40th anniversary happened back in January …
Lamborghinis race into Newport for mens mental health
Numerous colorful Lamborghinis raced towards the Newport Car Museum in Portsmouth on Sunday
Airbnb CEO says AI agents like Muse, Instinct have done few bookings
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says AI agents like Muse and Instinct have resulted in little traffic and very few bookings on the site.
MMAM to host Fall Seasonal Saturday Nov. 14
The Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM) invites visitors and the Winona community to Fall Seasonal Saturday, River Town Remix on Saturday, November 14, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
‘Rocky’: 7 Iconic Philadelphia Locations From the Film Franchise
From the museum steps to Rocky's apartment.
Space shuttle Endeavour launches its final chapter at the CA Science Center. How to explore its home
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is a major expansion to the museum. General admission is free.
One museum visit a month could improve health, new report finds
Art Fund calls for greater investment in museums as research suggests regular visits could reduce depression, dementia risk and stress
Science Museum of Minnesota to cut 22 jobs amid $4.64 million shortfall
With attendance still at half of pre-pandemic levels, the St. Paul institution is cutting jobs and shrinking its footprint to save costs.
California voters reject measure to tax the wealth of billionaires
The measure would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of Californians whose net worth exceeds $1 billion.
Central Ohio marks Veterans Day with ceremonies, service events and business discounts
Veterans Day is being marked across central Ohio with ceremonies, community service events and discounts aimed at honoring those who served.At the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, a special service is looking back
ZGF unveils a Space Shuttle addition clad in stainless steel to the California Science Center
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Museum opens today in Los Angeles at the California Science Center. The 200,000-square-foot addition, wrapped in shiny The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Museum opens today in Los Angeles at the California Science Center. The 200,000-square-foot addition, wrapped in shiny stainless steel, is designed by ZGF.
C Spire holds annual Bytes and Bites event for business leaders
Business leaders with questions about AI, cybersecurity, and other technologies could connect directly with C Spire executives at the company’s annual Bytes and Bites event at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
Meta’s Muse AI can create custom ‘spaces’ for the version of the app you need right now
An app within an app.
Meta's AI agent Muse lands on Apple Watch and Android Wear OS
Users can now interact with Meta’s AI assistant through voice calls, text messages, or dictation on their Apple Watch.
A 4.5 billion year old meteorite crashed into her home. She gave it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science
The sonic boom and streak of light from the meteorite earlier this year made many Houstonians look to the sky. Now, that meteorite is on display for free at the museum for Houstonians to see a part of Space City history.
Miraculous Corp and ActivNation partner to launch Miraculous: Land of Heroes family entertainment centers across the U.S. featuring immersive entertainment, interactive attractions, and themed experiences
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Miraculous Corp—the joint venture between Mediawan and ZAG—and ActivNation today announced a partnership to develop Miraculous: Land of Heroes, a new generation of location-base…
Eastern requests more state funding for Integrated Science Building after receiving bids
Construction of EIU’s Integrated Science Building is awaiting the state’s decision to allocate more funds after projected expenses exceeded the current budget. The bids are for a new three-story academic science building for the biology and chemistry departments to the south of the Tarble Museum of Art, along with a new greenhouse. The university has currently received bids from four different...
Muse can now place calls to U.S. businesses — if you pay
Muse's AI can now place outbound calls to US businesses — but it's not free.
Kings Dominion debuts Hops & Harvest Festival with seasonal flavors, craft beverages and live entertainment
DOSWELL, Va. — Kings Dominion will debut Hops & Harvest Festival, a brand-new fall celebration that transforms International Street into a festive gathering place filled with seasonal flavors, …
Lower attendance and budget gap prompt more cuts at the Science Museum
More than a year after cutting positions, the Science Museum of Minnesota is trimming jobs again to close a $4.64 million gap amid lower attendance.
Amazeum celebrates opening of $25 million expansion
The Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville marked the completion of a $25 million expansion Thursday (Nov. 5). The 11,850-square-foot project is the first major expansion since the 50,000-square-foot museum for...
A 4.5 billion year old meteorite crashed into her home. She gave it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science
The sonic boom and streak of light from the meteorite earlier this year made many Houstonians look to the sky. Now, that meteorite is on display for free at the museum for Houstonians to see a part of Space City history.
Where is the education program at the Lucas Museum?
Critics point to a disconnect between the education program the Lucas Museum promised when it was approved by the city, and what it delivered upon opening.
Bean Life Science Museum hosted its annual free Halloween Family Night for students and families
The Bean Life Science Museum hosted its annual Halloween Family Night on Oct. 26, offering families a free evening of hands-on activities, crafts, and opportunities to explore the natural world.
Annual gingerbread house contest to have folk art feel
Gingerbread architects of all ages have a new muse this holiday season: a Hillsborough couple’s collection of more than 1,400 miniature American buildings.
Communist Party Politics, Rockets and Komsomol Business in Soviet Dnipropetrovsk
This is an excerpt from Ukraine’s Outpost: Dnipropetrovsk and the Russian-Ukrainian War (2022). Free to download from E-International Relations. The Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk (in 2016 the city was renamed Dnipro) was shown on a movie screen in the Soviet Union for the first time in 1981 as a ‘Russian-speaking’ city in Nikita Mikhalkov’s feature film Rodnia. A story of a Russian peasant woman who visited her daughter in the big industrial city was used by Mikhalkov in his movie to emphasise a growing crisis in Soviet family life during the Brezhnev era when former Russian peasants lost their Orthodox Christian identity during the process of socialist industrialisation and modernisation. Paradoxically, Mikhalkov completely ignored the real social and national problems of the city; instead choosing as the setting for his movie Russian peasants’ adjustment to Soviet modernisation. Even now many Russians use this film as evidence of the ‘Russian character’ of Dnipropetrovsk ignoring the real demographic and social history of this Ukrainian region (Elberg-Wilson 2016).[1] Despite Mikhalkov’s picture, the city of Dnipro and the Dnipropetrovsk region had a multi-national and multi-cultural character coupled with the strong influence of Ukrainian and Jewish culture. Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber, or make a donation, to support our work. Subscribe Using various archival and published documents, this chapter will cover the social, economic and cultural development of the city and the region of Dnipropetrovsk through the period of late socialism after Stalin, showing the ties between the multi-national Komsomol members and business ventures during perestroika and how this influenced the rise of oligarchic clans in post-Soviet Ukraine. Emergence of Soviet Dnipropetrovsk Paradoxically, from the early beginning, the founding of the ‘city of Catherine’s glory’ (Ekaterinoslav in Russian) and its province in 1776 by the Russian imperial administration of the Catherine the Second involved non-Russian ethnic groups, which shaped a historical demography of this region in Southern Ukraine. These ethnic groups included the local Ukrainian Orthodox Christian peasants and Cossacks, Jewish traders and artisans, Armenian Christians, and Tatar Muslim settlers. By the middle of the nineteenth century, thousands of German Protestant and Mennonite colonists also settled in the province. Moreover, by attracting foreign capital, the Russian imperial administration transformed this multi-ethnic and multi-religious region in the booming industrial centre of the Russian Empire by the beginning of twentieth century (Zhuk 2004, 33–96). After the Russian Revolution and civil war, the province of Ekaterinoslav continued to play an important role in the industrial development of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1926 the Soviet administration decided to change the name of Ekaterinoslav which sounded too ‘old fashioned’ and ‘imperial Russian.’ The new name was a combination of the name of the Dnipro River with the last name of Grigorii Petrovskii, head of the All-Ukrainian Executive Committee of the Soviets, and well-known organiser of the working-class movement in the region of Ekaterinoslav before the Revolution. ‘Dnipro-Petrovske’ was later transformed into ‘Dnipropetrovsk’ (Bolebrukh 2001, 156). Both the city and region of Dnipropetrovsk lived through the New Economic Policy (N.E.P.), industrialisation and the Stakhanovite movement. The region lost millions of human lives during collectivisation and the dekulakisation campaign, and especially during the Holodomor of 1932–33. During industrialisation, the Soviet government restored the industrial base of the region. Former metallurgical giants such as the Petrovskii (formerly Brianskii)plant, the Chodoir (formerly Vladimir Lenin) plant and others resumed production of pig iron and steel. During the 1930s, Dnipropetrovsk became an important centre for Soviet heavy industry. In 1932, Dnipropetrovsk regional metallurgical plants produced 20 per cent of the entire cast iron and 25 per cent of the steel manufactured in the Soviet Ukrainian Republic. After the beginning of the campaign of ‘Ukrainianisation’ in 1923, the number of those who spoke Ukrainian grew, reaching 38.5 per cent in the city by the end of the 1920s. Between 1932 and 1939, the number of city dwellers in Dnipropetrovsk increased to over 500,662. The Dnipropetrovsk region became the most urbanised of Soviet Ukraine with more than 2,273,000 people living in the region (Vasiliev 1977, 55; Bolebrukh 2001, 159–164). Dnipropetrovsk also became the cultural and educational centre of Soviet Ukraine. There were ten colleges, including the State University, 97 secondary schools and 19 vocational schools. The Soviet administration restored local drama and music theatres. During the 1930s, Dnipropetrovsk had 120 libraries, five museums, six movie-theatres, 30 clubs and palaces of culture (Bolebrukh 2001_,_159–164). The Leonid Brezhnev Clan Post-war Soviet modernisation influenced the careers of many young and ambitious Komsomol members in the region. One of them, Leonid Brezhnev, was born in 1906 in Kamenskoe, joined the Kommunystycheskaya Partyya Sovetskoho Soyuza (Communist party of the Soviet Union - KPSS) in 1931 and, after graduation from Dniprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Institute was elected as a council deputy of the city of Dniprodzerzhinsk. The Stalinist purges of the 1930s removed many old Soviet and Communist officials from government positions who perished in prisons and the labour camps of GULAG. Young people such as Brezhnev filled the void created by Stalinist repressions in the region. In 1938, the young Brezhnev was elected as a member of the regional committee of the Soviet Communist party of Ukraine (KPU) and head of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda. By the young age of 32, Brezhnev had become secretary of the KPU committee of the most important industrial region of Soviet Ukraine. His career was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War when Brezhnev joined the army as an ideological officer (see Mlechin 2005). From August 1941 to October 1943, the Dnipropetrovsk region was occupied by the Nazis, and Soviet troops liberated the entire region by February 1944 (Berkhoff 2004, 11, 36, 49, 149–150, 152–153, 248–249). The Soviet administration restored the industrial base of Dnipropetrovsk, and by 1950 the main metallurgical and machine-building factories had reached their pre-war levels of industrial production and productivity. During this period, Brezhnev began his political career as a talented and ambitious organizer of the industrial re-birth of Dnipropetrovsk. He was an experienced young army ideologist who had proved his loyalty to the Stalinist leadership during the war and was familiar with Dnipropetrovsk before 1941. The Central Committee of the KPSS sent Brezhnev to Dnipropetrovsk in November 1947 when he was elected first secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the KPU, and he ruled the oblast until June 1950 (Vosstanovlenie). His successors were Andrei Kirilenko and Volodymyr Shcherbitskyy, both close friends. Two other young comrades of Brezhnev, Oleksiy Vatchenko and Yevhen Kachalovskii led the region respectively in 1965–1976 and 1976–1983 (Vasiliev 1977, 72; Bolebrukh 2001_,_ 233; Mlechin 2005). Brezhnev promoted the political career of his old friends, many of whom became prominent political figures in Kyiv and Moscow during his leadership of the KPSS. Both contemporaries and scholars who study the ‘Brezhnev period’ call this phenomenon the ‘Dnipropetrovsk mafia’ or rule of the ‘Dnipropetrovsk Family’ (Nahaylo 1999, 36, 69; Wilson 2000, 162). Since the rise of Brezhnev to the pinnacle of Soviet power, the ruling elites of Dnipropetrovsk influenced not only regional, but also republican and All-Union politics. Dnipropetrovsk’s transformation into an important centre of the Soviet military industrial complex was directly related to the sudden rise of Brezhnev to the pinnacle of Soviet power in October of 1964. Brezhnev promoted the political career of his compatriots from the Dnipropetrovsk military industrial complex. Brezhnev’s friends and close colleagues from his post-war years in the Dnipropetrovsk region went to Moscow and became prominent political figures in the Soviet nomenklatura hierarchy during the 1960s and 1970s. Two main industries of the Soviet military industrial complex – metallurgy and missile-building – had important factories in Dnipropetrovsk and therefore provided the Brezhnev clan with new members from 1964 until 1982. Even after the downfall of the Brezhnev clan in Moscow in 1983, when Yurii Andropov began his struggle ‘against corruption and nepotism’ in the Soviet nomenklatura, members of this clan continued to play a prominent role in the political life of Soviet Ukraine. Besides the Physical-Technical Department of Dnipropetrovsk State University, the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute also assisted the political careers of many of Brezhnev’s close friends who in the 1970s and 1980s became important members of the Kremlin nomenklatura. Nikolai Tikhonov, former head of Dnipropetrovsk Sovnarkhoz during the 1950s, was one of the deputies of the Soviet Prime Minister between 1966 and 1976, First Deputy of the Prime Minister from 1976 to 1980 and head of the USSR Council of Ministers from 1980 to 1985.[2] Nikolai Shcholokov was the Soviet Minister of Public Order in 1966–1968 and from 1968 to 1982 he was Soviet Minister of Interior. Georgii Tsynev was during 1971–1976 a member of the Central Revision Committee of the KPSS and a deputy head of the KGB from 1970 to 1982. In the KGB he was the 1st Deputy Chairman in 1982–1985 as well as he was a Candidate Member of CPSU Central Committee in 1976–1981 and accordingly was a full Member of the said body in 1981–1986. Victor Chebrikov, who graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute in 1950, was one of the leaders of the city party organisation in Dnipropetrovsk from 1961 to 1971. In 1971 he became the head of the personnel department of the USSR KGB, First Deputy of the Head of this organization and from 1982 to 1988 a chairman of the KGB (Pikhovshek 1996, 11–12, 272–274). Another of Brezhnev’s close friends, Volodymyr Shcherbytskyy, promoted the careers of other people from the region of Dnipropetrovsk. With his support, Oleksii Vatchenko became the head of the Presidium of the Ukrainian Soviet Supreme Soviet from 1976 until 1984 with the assistance of another politician from Dnipropetrovsk, Valentyna Shevchenko. Aleksandr Kapto, who worked as a secretary of both the Dnipropetrovsk Komsomol organization and the Soviet Ukrainian Komsomol in Kyiv in the 1960s, oversaw the Department of Culture in the Central Committee of the KPU; in 1979–1986 he was a Secretary of the Central Committee and accordingly was the main ideologist of the Soviet Ukraine. Many other members of the ‘Kyiv ruling class’ under Shcherbytskyy were also linked to the Dnipropetrovsk metallurgical and military lobby. Shcherbytskyy’s assistant from 1972 to 1984 was Konstantin Prodan who began his career in the Komsomol organisation of the city of Dnipropetrovsk (Pikhovshek 1996, 48–103). As a contemporary political analyst noted, ‘Officially Prodan was put in charge of industrial production, though, according to insiders of the former KPU Central Committee, his principal function was ‘maintaining’ contact with Brezhnev’s assistant Georgii Tsukanov in Moscow’ (Pikhovshek 1996, 33–34). Another important reason for the rise of the ‘Brezhnev Clan’ was the relative independence of Dnipropetrovsk’s local administration from Kyiv. Because of the status of Dnipropetrovsk as a ‘strategically important centre for military industry,’ different branches of the local administration were under the direct supervision of Moscow, rather than Kyiv (Interviews with Tihipko, Markov and Bocharova). The Military Industrial Complex and Ruling Elite of Dnipropetrovsk The city of Dnipropetrovsk was the location of famous metallurgical and machine-building factories in pre-revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union. Before 1941, Dnipropetrovsk became the most urbanised region of the Soviet Ukraine. Almost 53 per cent of this region’s population lived in 16 cities and towns of the region (Vasiliev 1977, 55; Bolebrukh 2001, 159–164). In 1980, the industrial enterprises of Dnipropetrovsk manufactured a significant part of the industrial products and customer goods for the Soviet Ukrainian Republic. A total of 5.4 per cent of steel, 9 per cent of rolled iron, 28 per cent of pipes, 62 per cent of combine beet-harvesters, 27.9 per cent of television sets, and 8.5 per cent of knitted wear in Ukraine were produced in the city of Dnipropetrovsk (Bolebrukh 2001, 219). After 1945, the main centre of economic and financial activities of the region and the city of Dnipropetrovsk became neither metallurgy nor mining. The new centre which changed the status of the region and of the city was a secret military factory in Dnipropetrovsk. The entire ideological and cultural situation in the region, and especially the city, depended on this one industrial plant which became the most important part of the Soviet military industrial complex. In July 1944, the State Committee of Defence in Moscow decided to build a large military machine-building factory in Dnipropetrovsk on the location of the pre-war aircraft plant. In December 1945, thousands of German prisoners of war began construction and built the first sections and shops of the new Dnipropetrovsk Automobile Factory (Markov, 1995). In 1947–1948 this factory produced its first cars and special military vehicles. However, on 9 May 1951 the USSR Council of Ministers decided to transform the main shops and sectors of this factory into ‘secret production’ which included not only special military vehicles, but also powerful rocket engines and different types of modern military aircraft. The former Dnipropetrovsk Automobile Factory was transferred to the Ministry of Armament of the USSR and received a new name – the State Union Plant #586 (Lukanov 1996, 12). Stalin introduced the organisation of special secret training of highly qualified engineers and scientists who were to become rocket construction specialists. He recommended the introduction of a new college degree at Dnipropetrovsk State University which would be a Master of Sciences in rocket construction. In 1952 the university administration formed a new department with the name ‘physical-technical faculty’ which was the largest department at the university, admitting on average four hundred students each year. These students received better accommodation and a higher stipend payment than students from other departments and colleges; the lowest stipend for this department was 450 roubles, while the highest stipend at another prestigious school, the Dnipropetrovsk Medical Institute, was only 180 roubles. A special commission from Moscow selected talented undergraduate students studying physics from engineering schools all over the USSR and sent them to the physical-technical department at Dnipropetrovsk State University, where they resumed their studies as rocket engineers. Simultaneously, the university administration announced the admission of new freshmen students in this department. The promise of a good stipend and a ‘romantic’ career of rocket engineer attracted thousands of talented young people to this ‘secret’ department, which provided training specialists for only the Dnipropetrovsk Automobile Factory (Horbulin 1998, 9, 62–63). In accordance with another decision of the Soviet government, in 1954 the administration of this automobile factory opened a secret design office with the name ‘Southern Construction Bureau’ (konstruktorskoe biuro Yuzhnoe). The main assignment of this office was to construct military missiles and rocket engines. Hundreds of talented physicists, engineers and machine designers moved from Moscow and other big cities in the Soviet Union to Dnipropetrovsk where they joined the konstruktorskoe biuro Yuzhnoe (KBYu). In 1965, the secret Plant #586 was transferred to the Ministry of General Machine-Building of the USSR and the next year it changed its name into the ‘Southern Machine-building Factory’ (Yuzhnyi mashino-stroitelnyi zavod) or simply Yuzhmash (in Ukrainian Pivdenmash). The first ‘General Constructor’ and head of the ‘Southern’ design office was Mikhail Yangel, a prominent scientist and outstanding designer of space rockets who led the design office and factory from 1954 to 1971. Yangel designed the first powerful rockets and space military equipment for the Soviet Ministry of Defence. Yangel worked with talented engineers who later became the leaders of military production in Dnipropetrovsk and the official directors of Pivdenmash. Two close collaborators of Yangel were the Pivdenmash directors Leonid Smirnov (1952–1961) and Aleksandr Makarov (1961–1986). Makarov’s successor was Leonid Kuchma, the Director General of the Pivdenmash in 1986–1992, who later became one of the most prominent political leaders in independent Ukraine and was and still is the only President of Ukraine (1994–2005) elected twice (Strazheva; Platonov and Horbulin; Romanov and Gubarev; Baikonur; Baikonur, Korolev, Yangel). In 1951 the Southern Machine-building Factory began manufacturing and testing new military rockets with an initial range of only 270 kilometres. By 1959 Soviet scientists and engineers developed new technologies, and as a result, the KBYu launched a new machine-building project producing ballistic missiles. Under Yangel, KBYu produced very powerful rocket engines which dramatically increased the range of ballistic missiles and from the 1960s, began to be used as launch vehicles for Soviet spaceships. Pivdenmash designed and manufactured four generations of missile complexes which included space launch vehicles Kosmos, Interkosmos, Tsyklon-2, Tsyklon-3 and Zenith. The KBYu created a unique space-rocket system called Energia-Buran and manufactured 400 technical devices which were launched as artificial satellites (Sputniks). For the first time in the world space industry, the Dnipropetrovsk missile plant produced space Sputniks. By the 1980s, Pivdenmash manufactured 67 different types of spaceships, 12 space research complexes and four defence space rocket systems. These systems were used not only for purely military purposes by the Ministry of Defence, but also for astronomical research, for global radio and television and for environmental monitoring. Pivdenmash initiated and sponsored the international space programme of Eastern European socialist countries, called Interkosmos. Twenty-two of the 25 automatic space Sputniks of this programme were designed, manufactured, and launched by engineers and workers from Dnipropetrovsk. Pivdenmash and KBYu became not only an important centre of the Soviet space industry and Soviet military industrial complex, but also the main rocket producer for the entire Soviet bloc. (Hall and Shayler 2001, 316ff; Siddiqi 2003, 97, 113, 114, 164, 177, 285) The military rocket systems manufactured in Dnipropetrovsk created the base for the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces (Dnepropetrovskii raketno 1994; Bolebrukh 2001_,_ 209–211, 229; Lukanov 1996, 13). On the eve of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, KBYu had nine regular and corresponding members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, 33 full professors and 290 scientists holding a Ph.D. More than 50,000 people worked at Pivdenmash. Pivdenmash was ‘a state’ inside the Soviet state. In 1969, after a long competition with Moscow’s V. Chelomei Centre of Rocket Construction, Pivdenmash rocket designs won, and from then leaders of the Soviet military industrial complex preferred only Pivdenmash models. The Soviet state provided billions of Soviet roubles to finance Pivdenmash projects (Horbulin 1998, 6, 24–31). Officially, Pivdenmash also manufactured agricultural tractors and special kitchen equipment for everyday needs, such as mincing machines or juicers for Soviet households. In official reports and public information there were no details given about its production of rockets or spaceships. However, hundreds of thousands of workers and engineers in the city of Dnipropetrovsk were employees of this plant, and members of their families and therefore most local people knew about the ‘real production’ of Pivdenmash. Dnipropetrovsk as a KGB “Testing Ground” The Soviet government approved the KGB’s proposal to introduce the highest level of secrecy over Pivdenmash and its products. According to the Soviet government’s decision, the city of Dnipropetrovsk was officially closed to foreign visitors in 1959. No citizen of a foreign country (even Eastern European socialist) was allowed to visit the city or district of Dnipropetrovsk. From the late 1950s, Soviet people called Dnipropetrovsk ‘the rocket city’ or ‘closed city.’ (Bolebrukh 2001, 211). Members of the Brezhnev clan in the Moscow offices of the KGB and Ministry of Interior also contributed to centralised ideological control in Dnipropetrovsk, which especially influenced the KGB and security operations in the closed city. The local KGB office was always more Moscow-oriented, ignoring the interests of the authorities in Kyiv. At the same time, for Moscow officials who began their careers in Dnipropetrovsk, the city became the testing ground for many All-Union KGB campaigns which they attempted to initiate. Dnipropetrovsk KGB officers were ‘pioneers’ in the organisation of ideological campaigns which became ‘models’ for other ‘closed’ industrial Soviet cities. [This phrase – ‘pioneers of ideological campaigns’ – belongs to a local retired KGB officer. According to the KGB documents, Moscow’s representatives in the Dnipropetrovsk clan always interfered in local KGB business, imposing their own practices on the local officers.] (Igor T.; DADO, f. 19, op. 52, spr. 72, ark. 1–18) As a result, the inhabitants of Dnipropetrovsk experienced more ideological limitations and more brutal anti-Western campaigns than people in many other Soviet cities. Facing direct Kremlin supervision, the local KGB and KPSS ideologists sought to prove their ideological reliability and occasionally exaggerated the ‘threat from the capitalist West.’ KGB officers transformed one building in the Dnipropetrovsk Special Psychiatric Hospital (psikhushka), located in a town of Ihren (now a suburban district of Dnipro), into a special police facility for ‘political dissidents.’ All over the Soviet Union, Ihren psikhushka (especially its Section 9) became notorious and known as the worst incarceration for political prisoners. The Dnipropetrovsk KGB tested various drugs on prisoners and performed different medical experiments, treating the most ‘opinionated’ political dissidents as mentally sick patients. Many religious and civil rights activists and ‘bourgeois nationalists,’ such as national communist dissident Leonid Plyushch, described the Dnipropetrovsk Psychiatric Hospital as ‘mental hell’ because of its police system of harsh treatment and everyday humiliation (Plyushch 1979, 304–326, 340–349). Meanwhile, local KGB officers explained their harsh treatment of dissidents such as Plyushch as an ideological necessity to protect a strategically important centre of the Soviet military industrial complex (Igor T). Growth of the Population and Standards of Living in the Region The new status of the city brought more state investments and contributed to the overall improvement of the standard of living of its inhabitants. During the 1950s, the main sponsor of city improvements and renovations was the metallurgical industry. During the 1960s and 1970s, the space rocket industry and its biggest factory, Pivdenmash, sponsored all major city programmes, renovations and new architectural projects which included the sports palace Meteor with a large indoor pool, football team Dnipro, city airport, city theatre of opera and ballet, historical museum of Yavornitskii, department store ‘Children’s World,’ construction of thousands of modern apartments, libraries and movie-theatres, and celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the city of Dnipropetrovsk in 1976. (Bolebrukh 2001_,_ 211–212). Even the expansion and renovation of the Dnipropetrovsk Central Farmer Market (known as Oziorka) was supported by Pivdenmash as part of its improvement of the city’s life, and a reflection of the growth and strategic importance of the city. From 1958 to 1965 the city administration invested money in building a new covered location for the market and by 1970 they had re-built the entire neighbourhood transforming it into a modern and convenient place for the ‘socialist consumption of goods and services.’ (Lazebnik 2001, 167–185) As a result, the missile factory, the centre of the Soviet military industrial complex, contributed to a new level of cultural consumption among not only the city’s dwellers, but also among all guests of Dnipropetrovsk. Consequently, the pioneering efforts in the popularisation of new modern forms of Western music such as jazz and rock-n-roll also began among engineers and workers of Pivdenmash who contributed to the spread of new cultural forms and activities among those who lived in the city and region of Dnipropetrovsk. The improving living conditions in Dnipropetrovsk led to an increase of the regional population from 2,339,800 people (with a 56 per cent urban population) in 1951 to 2,850,700 (with a 72 per cent urban population) in 1961. The larger salaries and better distribution of food and industrial goods also attracted young people from other regions of the Soviet Union to Dnipropetrovsk. From the 1950s onward, most of the Dnipropetrovsk population were people younger than 30 years old. In 1970 there were 3,343,000 people in the region (76 per cent of who lived in cities) which by 1984 had increased to 3,771,200 people (with 83 per cent urban population). The population of the city of Dnipropetrovsk grew from 660,800 people in 1959 to 1,066,000 in 1979 and more than 1,153,400 people in 1985 when Gorbachev came to power (Glushkina 1985, 10, 11). The Dnipropetrovsk region had a young multinational, predominantly Russian speaking population. Three major ethnic groups shaped the cultural development of the region – Ukrainians, Russians, and Jews. During the peak of ‘international harmony and prosperity of developed socialism’ in 1979, Ukrainians made up the overwhelming majority of the regional (72.8 per cent) and urban (68.5 per cent) population. Due to massive emigration from the Soviet Union, the Jewish population decreased from 2.7 per cent in 1959 to 1.7 per cent in 1979 and 1.3 per cent in 1989. The number of Russians in the region’s population grew rapidly from 17.2 per cent in 1959, 20.9 per cent in 1970, 23 per cent in 1979 and 24.2 per cent in 1989 (O vozrastnoi structure 1971; Goskomstat USSR 1991, 100, 102). By 1985, more than a third of the population in the city of Dnipropetrovsk was ethnically Russian. If we add to this number the 3.2 per cent of Russian-speaking Jews and more than 33 per cent of Ukrainians who considered Russian their native language, we will have more than two thirds of the city’s population who associated themselves with Russian rather than with Ukrainian culture. According to contemporaries, the high salaries and better conditions of living attracted representatives of various nationalities from different republics who also spoke Russian rather than the Ukrainian language in Dnipropetrovsk (Goskomstat USSR 1991, 106, 108, 119, 122; Prudchenko and Smolenska 2007). Komsomol ‘Business’ During the Late Soviet Era The regional economic activities of local ‘businessmen and women’ from the Komsomol during perestroika had their roots in the pre-perestroika era. They also strengthened trends for independence from Moscow which had earlier existed in Dnipropetrovsk. All the elements of their initial business had already been developed during the Brezhnev era when the cultural consumption of late socialism combined the structures of Soviet international tourism with the ideological efforts of Komsomol activists into one business network. Mass rock and discotheque music consumption among Soviet youth was delivered by Komsomol and trade union apparatchiks. International tourism and discotheque enthusiasts provided these apparatchiks with music and video material for their entertainment business. Without these relations it would be impossible to imagine the development of post-Soviet capitalism. The first pioneers of organizing Komsomol business in the region were two graduates of Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute, the Ukrainian-Moldovan Sergiy Tihipko, the First Secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Komsomol regional organization in 1986–91, and the Ukrainian Oleksandr Turchynov, who worked with Tihipko as head of the agitation and propaganda division in the same Komsomol regional organisation in 1987–90. Tihipko and Turchynov initiated and ‘ideologically justified’ the first Komsomol businesses in the region. Two other Komsomol members, who also graduated from the same institute as Tihipko and Turchynov, Kolomoyskyy and Viktor Pinchuk, both of Jewish origin, started their careers not in the official Komsomol business, but on the black market of Dnipropetrovsk, trading various goods, and using their financial and engineering skills for their own survival in the conditions of economic collapse of late socialism. Kolomoyskyy used his financial skills and connections with Tihipko to organize its own financial corporation Privatbank, which became the most successful bank in post-Soviet Ukraine. Pinchuk, using his engineering and managerial skills, founded his own metallurgical venture, entitled Interpipe Company. It is noteworthy that all four of those Komsomol members, two Ukrainian and two Jewish, used their personal connections through their friends and partners from Pivdenmash, including through its last director Leonid Kuchma, to start their first businesses in Dnipropetrovsk (see Golovko 2012). In the mid-1980s, when perestroika created favourable conditions for the managerial skills of Komsomol activists, this system produced new activities for cultural consumption, such as video salons which brought their organisers more profits than traditional discotheque clubs. The video business used the same infrastructure and network of the discotheque movement; namely international tourism, Komsomol activists, trade union leaders and the ‘discotheque mafia.’ This network contributed to the business career of two fans of Western popular music, Yulia Tymoshenko and her husband, Oleksandr (Popov, Milshtein, 55; Ponamarchuk). Yulia Grigian (Telegina) was the daughter of Armenian taxi-driver Grigian and Russian technical worker Telegina, a fan of British rock music. Yulia Grigian married Oleksandr Tymoshenko, son of a member of the city KPU committee in the Pivdenmash administration. In 1978, Yulia Tymoshenko joined the student Komsomol organization in the Department of Economy at Dnipropetrovsk State University. This department was opened on the initiative of the Pivdenmash administration in 1977 to provide training for qualified economists in Dnipropetrovsk’s growing military industrial complex. Yulia Tymoshenko graduated with honours from the Department of Economy in 1984 and began her first job as an engineer-economist through the connections of her father-in-law, Hennadii Tymoshenko. For five years, she worked at the Lenin machine building plant, another factory which belonged to the Soviet military industrial complex. In 1979, she gave birth to her daughter Yevhenia, and until 1988 she and her husband enjoyed a typical Soviet upper-middle class life in their one-bedroom cooperative apartment. They continued to watch movies, listen to Western pop music, and occasionally visited and danced in well-known discotheque clubs in downtown Dnipropetrovsk (Popov and Milshtein 2006, 64–67; Suvorov 1991). Perestroika changed the young Tymoshenko family. Hennadii Tymoshenko recommended his son and daughter-in-law to join the co-operative movement and promised his support through the city’s KPU and Soviet administration. In 1988, the young Tymoshenkos used their old connections in the Komsomol discothèque world to open a public service enterprise, a video-rental shop in Dnipropetrovsk, with 5,000 borrowed Soviet roubles. The profits made from this first venture were used to open a chain of video rental stores. They used the experience of Komsomol apparatchiks, who brought their first VCRs in Dnipropetrovsk through Sputnik. Contacts in the discotheque movement helped provide these apparatchiks with Western video tapes and an audience which was ready to consume new Western cultural products. Former discotheque enthusiasts tested these new business practices and proposed the idea of video salons, which had already become the most popular and fashionable form of entertainment Moscow and the three Baltic republics. As a result, during perestroika both the Komsomol and ‘discotheque mafia’ provided infrastructure for these salons in Dnipropetrovsk. When in 1987the KGB opened the city of Dnipropetrovsk to foreigners, Pivdenmash imported thousands of VCRs using barter agreements with South Korean businessmen. As a regional KPU apparatchik who oversaw the distribution of movies throughout the Dnipropetrovsk region (kinoprokat), Yulia Tymoshenko’s father-in-law had access not only to these Korean VCRs but also to local movie theatres which provided the first mass audience for video films. The main base of a Tymoshenko’s ‘video enterprise’ was the location of the former central Komsomol discotheque club of Dnipropetrovsk oblast– the Student Palace in the Taras Shevchenko Park of Culture and Relaxation in downtown Dnipropetrovsk (Popov and Milshtein 2006, 52–89; Ponamarchuk 2007). In 1989, she quit her old engineer-economist job and became the head of the Terminal co-operative. The same year, another participant in the ‘discotheque mafia,’ Serhiy Tihipko, was elected as the first secretary of the Komsomol organization of Dnipropetrovsk oblast. He not only supported Tymoshenko’s enterprise, but also brought his additional discotheque and Sputnik connections into Terminal. In this way, discotheque activists and Komsomol apparatchiks contributed to the growth and popularity of Tymoshenko’s business (Tihipko). In 1991 after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Soviet state tourism, the representatives of the Brezhnev era Komsomol elite, such as Tymoshenko demonstrated again that a skilful adjustment of this network to the new economic situation was an important foundation for success in post-Soviet business activities. The initial capital of Terminal, the music and video Komsomol enterprise which Tymoshenko had launched during ‘the discotheque era’ of late socialism, became the foundation of her business and political career in post-Soviet Ukraine. Epilogue: Dnipropetrovsk Komsomol Entrepreneurs and the Formation of Post-Soviet Oligarchs Political corruption in the post-Soviet geopolitical space is rooted in cultural consumption during the Brezhnev era, especially in the so-called ‘discotheque effect’ on society during the era of ‘mature socialism.’ During this period of late socialism in the USSR, millions of Soviet young people, loyal members of Komsomol, fell in love with the catchy sound of ‘beat music’ by the Beatles and hard rock by Deep Purple. Even ten years after dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet space was ruled by former Soviet hard rock fans, representatives of the so-called ‘Deep Purple generation,’ new post-Soviet politicians, such as Russian Prime-Minister Dmitri Medvedev, twice Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, President Petro Poroshenko and former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Paradoxically, détente in the 1970s led to the influx of Western cultural products into the USSR, such as popular music and feature films. As a result, Soviet ideologists, including the Komsomol, attempted to control Soviet consumption of cultural products from the West using ‘Komsomol discothèques’ where Soviet young people could dance to ‘ideologically permitted’ Soviet and Western music. Contemporaries called these organizers ‘disco mafia’ in the industrial cities of Eastern Ukraine. By the end of perestroika in 1991, more than 100 Komsomol businesses had emerged in industrial cities in Eastern Soviet Ukraine, of which more than ninety originated in the city of Dnipropetrovsk (Zhuk 2010, 301). Only a few of the most successful enterprises survived post-Soviet competition during the 1990s and created ‘new business corporations’ such as Yulia Tymoshenko’s ‘Gas Empire,’ Kolomoyskyy’s and Tihipko’s Privatbank, Aleksandr Balashov’s ‘Trade Corporation’ and Rinat Akhmetov’s Liuks. The overwhelming majority of these post-Soviet successful businesses were organised by or directly connected to the ‘disco mafia.’ At the same time, the first Dnipropetrovsk ‘capitalists’ demonstrated a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, from the Ukrainian Tihipko, Armenian-Russian Tymoshenko, Russian Balashov and Jewish Kolomoyskyy contributing to the multi-national identity of the city of Dnipropetrovsk and Dnipro. Some contemporaries noted how the business activities of Komsomol ‘entrepreneurs’ in the 1980s contributed to regional identity in Eastern Ukraine. Many of these ‘entrepreneurs’ who were not ethnic Ukrainians became active participants in the Ukrainian independence movement in 1988–1991 to protect their regional business interests rather than defending Ukrainian culture and language. In the 1990s, former members of the Soviet ‘discotheque mafia’ and their former KPU supervisors became an integral part of the business and political life of independent Ukraine. As leaders of oligarchic clans in Ukraine they have resisted Russian expansion into their ‘spheres of influence.’ The case of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, elected in April 2019, whose entire career was generated inside the Soviet-based system of television entertainment, continues to demonstrate the connection between ‘post-Komsomol‘ business and political careers. Zelenskyy began his acting career in 95-yi Kvartal, which was a reference to a neighbourhood in Kryvyy Rih, where he had grown up and was inspired by the 1960s Soviet television show KVN. As we see, the Dnipropetrovsk and Dnipro elites, who are still rooted in their Soviet past, play a significant role in the development of independent Ukraine. References Berkhoff, Karel C., (2004). Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine under Nazi Rule. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bolebrukh, Anatolii G. et al., eds., (2001). Dnipropetrovsk: vikhy istorii. Dnipropetrovsk: Grani. 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Romanov, Aleksandr P., Gubarev, Vladimir S. (1989). Konstruktory. Moscow: Molodaia gvardia. Siddiqi, Asif A. (2003). Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Elberg-Wilson, Eliot. (2016). ‘Eduard Artem’iev and the Sonics of National Identity,’ Slovo, 28, 2: 2–25. Strazheva, Irina V. (1978). Tiulpany s kosmodroma. Moscow: Molodaia gvardia. Vasiliev, I. V. et al. eds. (1977). Istoria gorodov i siol Ukrainskoi SSR v 26-ti tomakh: Dnepropetrovskaia oblast. Kyiv: Glavnaia redaktsia Ukrainskoi Sovestskoi Entsiklopedii. Vosstanovlenie Pridneprovia (1946–1950). (1980). Dokumenty i materially. Kyiv: Nauka. Wilson, Andrew. (2000). The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Zhuk, Sergei. (2004). Russia’s Lost Reformation: Peasants, Millennialism and Radical Sects in Southern Russia and Ukraine, 1830–1917. Baltimore, MD & Washington D.C: Johns Hopkins University Press and Woodrow Wilson Centre Press. Zhuk, Sergei (2010). Rock and Roll in the Rocket City: The West, Identity, and Ideology in Soviet Dniepropetrovsk, 1960–1985. Baltimore, MD & Washington D.C: Johns Hopkins University Press and Woodrow Wilson Centre Press. **Interviews**Igor T., KGB officer, 15 May 1991, Dnipropetrovsk. Karlo A. Markov, 12 April 1992, Dnipropetrovsk State University. Mikhail Suvorov, 1 June 1991, Dnipropetrovsk. Natalia V. Bocharova, 15 March 1993, Dnipropetrovsk State University. Sergiy Tihipko, director of Privatbank in Dnipropetrovsk, 12 October 1993, Dnipropetrovsk. Yevhen D. Prudchenko and Halyna V. Smolenska, 18 July 2007, Central Library of Dnipropetrovsk oblast, Dnipropetrovsk. Notes [1] I used also numerous interviews conducted with my relatives, who are ethnic Ukrainians, but live in Moscow, Russia, who still support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s anti-Ukrainian politics. [2] Sovnarkhoz is abbreviated from Russian Sovet narodnogo khoziaistva, an economic department in the Soviet government during the early Stalin era and during Khrushchev’s reforms.
Luxury brands try to entice younger consumers with new experience
Attending a legacy luxury brand’s workshop is “almost like being at a museum-level exhibit” because of the history on display, said a marketing professor.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science marks 40 years
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science will mark its 40th year Saturday with free shows and giveaways for the first 1,000 kids.