Nevel

Located on the shores of Lake Nevel , 242 km southeast of Pskov .

The struggle for Nevel

The name corresponds to the name of Lake Nevel (Nevl), which, presumably, can come from the Baltic-Finnish nevo - a marshy, viscous, swampy place.

The name Nevel is mentioned in the spiritual letter (testament) of Grand Duke Ivan III of 1504 : “Yes, I give my son Vasily ... Berezai volost, Nevle , Assimilate, Trap ...” ^[4] .

Nevel lands at different times belonged to the Moscow and Lithuanian principalities, the Commonwealth and the Russian Empire . According to the peace treaty of 1508, Nevel remained with the Russian state.

In 1562, the governor Andrei Kurbsky was unable to defeat the Lithuanians in the battle of Nevel , for which Ivan the Terrible subsequently rebuked him: “What a hell under our city of Nevlyam, five thousand and four thousand could not be beaten ...” ^[5] . S. M. Solovyov believed that this unsuccessful battle was a decisive urge for Kurbsky to flee Russia. However, in the same year, Nevel was again taken by Moscow troops.

In his spiritual letter in 1572, the tsar mentions Nevel three times - as a lake, as a city and as a parish: “Yes, I bless my cities with Ivan, that I set, with God's will, on the Lithuanian border: the city of Velizh, the city of Zavolochie, the city of Sebezh , the city of Popovich on the Nevle ... My son, Ivan, I give the city of Luke the Great, and the city ​​of Nevl , the city of Ostroi , with volosts, and with Putmi, and from the village, and with all duties. And the Lutsk volost: Birch, Nevl , Assimilations, Catcher, ... as was with me ” ^[6] .

Despite the mention of Ivan the Terrible Nevel as a city, for most of the XVI-XVIII centuries, Nevel was usually considered not a city, but a place ^[2] .

In 1580, the troops of the new King of the Commonwealth, Stephen Batory, again took Nevel, and the wooden castle - the main fortification of Nevel - was partially blown up and partially burned by the Poles. At the end of the Livonian War and the armistice in 1582, Nevel was returned to the Russian state ^[7] . However, in 1617, Nevel was again captured by the troops of the Commonwealth , to which it was transferred to the armistice concluded in 1618.

In 1623, King Sigismund III Waza granted Nevel Magdeburg Law and coat of arms: on the silver field, a defeated warrior - Goliath, above which David stands with a sword.

In 1633, during the Smolensk war, Nevel was taken by the Russian army, led by the governor M. B. Shein , but the peace treaty that ended the war in 1634 confirmed the belonging of the Nevel Rzeczpospolita.

In the middle of the XVII century, the resettlement of Jews to Nevelshchina began, which soon made up a significant part of the population of the town, which became an important center of Jewish culture. On June 1, 1654, Nevel was again taken by Russian troops under the command of V.P. Sheremetev ^[7] . The Andrusovo truce of 1667, which ended the Russo-Polish war of 1654-1667. , cemented the transition of Nevel to the Russian kingdom .

In 1678, Nevel, along with Velizh and Sebezh , was again transferred to the Commonwealth; at the same time, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Jan III Sobieski committed himself not to oppress the Orthodox population living in these three cities and not to force them to convert to Catholicism or Uniate (this obligation was not fulfilled) ^[7] . In return, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth refused to return the Russian kingdom that had been lost during the Russo-Polish war of 1654-1667. Kiev city ​​with the district.

On November 14, 1762, the Polish king Stanislav Augustus Poniatowski confirmed Nevel Magdeburg Law and granted a new coat of arms - a shield divided into two parts by a horizontal strip. The horseman is depicted in the lower part (as on the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , only against a green background), in the upper half is the Russian coat of arms, the two-headed crowned eagle. From the bottom of this coat of arms comes the modern coat of arms of the city.

Nevel in the Russian Empire

On May 28, 1772, as a result of the first partition of the Commonwealth, the town of Nevel finally became part of the Russian Empire .

In 1773, the town of Nevel was transformed into a city ^[2] . It became the center of the Nevelsky district , which was originally part of the Polotsk province of the Pskov province , from 1777 to the Polotsk province , from 1796 to the Belorussian , and from 1802 to the Vitebsk province; at the same time, the county entered the Pale of Settlement . In 1778, the city plan was approved, and in 1781 - its new coat of arms ^[8] .

In 1812, provincial institutions from Vitebsk were evacuated to Nevel; The Patriotic War of 1812 did not directly affect the city.

A. M. Sementovsky pointed out that in 1864 in Nevel, “in addition to 7 Orthodox churches, a monastery ^[9] and one chapel, there is 1 stone church (XVII century) and 9 Jewish schools, 36 stone, 821 wooden houses, 3 tanneries and 2 brick factories. "

In 1905, “there are two stone churches in the city, one monastery, 4 chapels; there is a Roman Catholic stone church and one wooden chapel; Jewish prayer houses 5 stone and 9 wooden. In Nevle, there are up to 14 thousand inhabitants, of which 8 thousand are Jews ... the Bologovo-Sedletskaya under construction crosses the Petersburg-Vitebsk railway ” ^[10] .

In 1906, the following was reported about the city: “The size of its area occupied is about 210 acres. Streets 28, lanes 10, ... squares 6. Stone houses 232, wooden 1222 ... The city is illuminated with 110 kerosene lamps. There is no water supply ... There are 9 lower educational institutions, including 6 male ones. Libraries 2. Hospital 1 with 24 beds. There are 6 hotels ... Factories and factories 10 ” ^[11] .

In 1910: “4 Orthodox churches, 1 church, 15 synagogues, 3 Orthodox chapels ... 3 libraries, 1 printing house, 1 printing house. Club scene 1, gymnasium 1 (16 teachers, 304 students). Educational institutions 6 " ^[12] .

Nevel in Soviet times

During the Civil War, it was for a long time under the control of white authorities. From 1918 to 1920, the philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin lived in the city, who taught at a single labor school. Around him there formed a close circle of like-minded intellectuals: V. N. Voloshinov , M. I. Kagan , L. V. Pumpyansky , M. V. Yudina , B. M. Zubakin.

In the 1930s, Nevel did not pass political repressions: churches, a church, synagogues were closed, religious figures, workers of Polish nationality, well-known Jews were arrested.

In the Great Patriotic War, the city ​​and the region experienced serious trials. July 8, 1941 on the Nevel was the first major raid of German aviation. July 16, 1941 German troops captured Nevel and marched on the Great Luke ^[13] .

In 1941-1943, the Nazi invaders shot more than eight thousand civilians in the Nevelsky district, including purposefully killed about two thousand Jews ^[14] . Dozens of villages were partially or completely burned, thousands of people were taken out for forced labor. Many residents died on the fronts and in captivity. In total, more than twenty thousand residents of the city and the region died. The invaders plundered or destroyed cultural property, destroyed many buildings; significant damage to the city brought hostilities. The territory of the Nevelsky district , together with the neighboring regions of the Pskov region , Belarus and Latvia, was part of the famous Partisan Territory . As a result of resistance to the Nazis , serious damage was caused in manpower and equipment.

Nevel was liberated from Nazi invaders by troops of the 3rd and 4th shock armies of the Kalinin Front (commander - Colonel General A. I. Eremenko ) on October 6–7, 1943 during the Nevel offensive operation ^[15] .

Since 1927, Nevel has been the district center of the Velikoluksky district of the Leningrad region , since 1929 - the Western region , since 1935 - the Kalinin region , since 1944 - the Velikoluksky region , and since 1957 - the Pskov region .

As of January 1, 2019, the city was in 794th place out of 1,115 ^[27] cities of the Russian Federation in terms of population ^[28] .

Gender composition

As of January 1, 1896, there were 9062 inhabitants in Nevel (4485 men and 4577 women) ^[29] .

According to the 1959 All-Union Census of the USSR, 14 634 people lived in Nevel - 6465 men and 8169 women ^[30] .

National composition

As of January 1, 1896, according to statistics, the city had: Jews - 4587 (50.6%), Orthodox - 3467 (38.3%), Catholics - 596 (6.6%), Protestants - 142, Muslims - 15, representatives of other faiths - 70 ^[29] .

In 1897, 9349 people lived in the city, including 5831 Jews, 2411 Belarusians, 1009 Russians ^[31] .

• 2 garment factories,
• 1 shoe factory
• 3 metalworking enterprises,
• branch of the Luga abrasive plant (occupies the premises of the former flax mill).
• feed mill Velikoluksky meat processing plant

Food and light industry enterprises are leading in industrial production. The volume of output of products, works and services in 2010 amounted to 730 million rubles.

Nevel is located on the E95 motorway and railway junction. It has two railway stations - Nevel-1 and Nevel-2 . Nevel-1 is located on the Velikiye Luki - Polotsk railway branch, and Nevel-2 is located on the St. Petersburg - Vitebsk railway.

In 2014, all suburban trains were canceled, except for occasional communications with Velikiye Luki.

Station Nevel-1 is located on the outskirts of the city. It was once quite large, with an island-style train station. Now the station is inactive, one of the sides is used for the sludge of old locomotives that have served their purpose. In connection with the construction of a feed mill next to it, freight traffic is developing.
Trains from St. Petersburg to Belarus and to Ukraine and diesel to Velikiye Luki pass through Nevel-2 station.

The city has a bus station (tel. 8-81151-21-495). Buses to Velikiye Luki , St. Petersburg , Smolensk (via Usvyaty-Velizh), Vitebsk , Pskov (via Pustoshka and Opochka). Suburban traffic in the area (usually a couple of flights once or twice a week).

City transport

City transport is represented by 5 routes.

• 1 . Flax mill - Oil depot - Heating networks - Market - Culture House - (check-in City Stadium - PMK-15) - Karl Marx Square - Summer Garden - KP - Krasny Partizan Street - AZS-14
• 2 . Motorcade - School - Dairy Plant - Market - Culture House - Karl Marx Square - School No. 5 - Hospital - Nevel-1 Station
• 6 . Motorcade - School - Dairy Plant - Market - House of Culture - Karl Marx Square - School No. 5 - Hospital - Sawmill - Velikolukskaya Street
• 8 . Flax factory - Neftebaza - Heating networks - Market - Culture House - Karl Marx Square - Dekabristov street - Kalinina street - Colony
• 9 . Fish factory - Special school - Gagrino - railway crossing - Market - Culture House - Karl Marx Square - School No. 5 - Hospital - Sawmill - Velikolukskaya street

• Nevelsky Museum of Local Lore, located in the building of the former postal station (1831) on the road Petersburg - Odessa.
• Monument to the soldiers who died during the liberation of the city in 1943. The monument was built in the same year of wood - one of the few wooden monuments that have survived from that time.
• Several merchant buildings of the XIX century.
• The building of the former gymnasium (now college) in 1904. In the gymnasium in 1918, taught M. M. Bakhtin .
• Monument Manshuk Mametova .

• Arshansky, Eduard Lvovich (1899-1974) - Soviet director, screenwriter.
• Yudina, Maria Veniaminovna (1899-1970) - Soviet pianist.
• Zvyagin Berke Borukhovich (Boris Borisovich) (1921-2002) - a specialist in the field of crystallography, professor, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences.

• Petrov G.V. Nevel. - L .: Lenizdat , 1980 .-- 104 p. - (Cities of the Pskov region). - 25,000 copies.

• Official site of Nevelsky district
• Nevel, the county town of Vitebsk province // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Nevel in the encyclopedia "My city"
• The appearance of the city of Nevel and the first information about it (inaccessible link)
• The history of the coat of arms of Nevel
• Historical background of Nevel and its environs
• Letters from the province. Nevel (TV channel "Culture", broadcast June 24, 2010) (unavailable link)
• List of cultural monuments of Nevel in Wikigid