Place:Partizansk, Primorsky, Russia

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Partizansk is a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located on a spur of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, about east of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai. Population:

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

In the late 19th century, the Vladivostok-based Russian Pacific Fleet was in deep need of a source of coal. The Department of Mines sent a geological expedition to the area south of Ussuriysk, working there from 1888 to 1893. Coal was found, which could be mined and sent to Nakhodka for the needs of the Fleet. In 1896, the Department of Mines made a large order for coal from the Suchan River area, and a settlement for miners was founded. The settlement was originally named Suchansky Rudnik, meaning mining pit of Suchan.

Later in 1896, more detailed prospecting was organized in Suchan, and commercial operations started at around that time. Suchan miners were living in dug-outs, cabins, and tents, and living conditions were awful. Only in 1900, when forty-six highly qualified miners arrived, construction of the mine #1 and of ten houses started. Government-owned coal mines were also established at that time. The first migrants started to move to Suchan.

The government often neglected to maintain good living conditions for Suchan workers. For the period of 1896–1922, only one two-story house was built. Suchan itself was just a group of several badly planned mine settlements. In 1905 and 1906, state schools were opened and a hospital for fifty people was built.

In the period of 1905–1914, several new mines were opened in Suchan. Wooden barracks and individual houses also appeared. Construction was carried out without proper planning, with each artel building a barrack for its workers. Some of those buildings remain intact to the present day. The founders of Suchansky Rudnik had not carried out much work up to 1914. After the beginning of World War I, development completely stopped. Many workers were called up for military service, extraction of coal reduced greatly, and construction works were cut down. Difficult years of need and hardship started.

In 1917, there were eleven mines which annually extracted up to 300,000 tons of coal. In 1918–1922, during the Russian Civil War, the supporters of the Bolsheviks conducted an active partisan struggle in the region. After the establishment of Soviet authority in Primorye, coal remained the region's main production.

After 1922, restoration of old mines and building of new ones started. Spread settlements merged into one large locality. Construction of multi-story buildings began. At this time great attention was paid to cultural development of the settlement. In 1917, the People's House was built, which later transformed into a club of miners. It became a cultural center of the settlement. In 1926, a club for 350 people was built near mine #10. In 1932, a club for 200 people near mine #20 and for 250 people at timber plant were built. In 1933, the largest Palace of Culture in Primorye with a hall for 1,200 people started functioning.

Town status was granted in 1932, and the name was shortened to Suchan. Soon after that Suchan was renamed Gamarnik, after revolutionary commissar Yan Gamarnik; however, the name reverted to Suchan after Gamarnik's suicide (due to possible arrest during the Great Purge) in 1937.

The town was given its present name in 1972, when the cleansing of Chinese names in Primorsky Krai took place. The nearby Suchan River, from which the town had taken its name, was renamed the Partizanskaya.

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