WWII damage and use of the palace

One of the five trees died the others survived - we contributed half the coast of the construction of a monument to Nicholas there about 10 years ago.

Bob

I agree with you about the 'restoration' of the New Study - it was done for a movie that was filmed in the place and everything was cheaply done.  It looks bad.

Bob

I have found in my library the guide book of Pushkin city issued in 1944. I would like to present to your attention an extract about AP:".... In the evening of 24th January 1944 the Army of Leningrad Front after attack entered and took possession of the city Pushkin (Tsarskoe Selo) and the city Pavlovsk (Slutsk).
Pushkin city became the soviet one again and forever.
Our troops as the powerful victoriouse avalanche have entered the town.
Their eyes saw the awful picture.Retreating by the attack of our brave army,German rascals have destroyed  completely anything that could be destroyed
. Germans blowed up and set on, fired to houses, palaces and monuments.
Catherine Palace stands being robbered, raped, halfly fired to and gloomy. The facade of Alexandr Palace is disfigured and deeply wounded everywhere.
The Loganovsky's sculpture "The Boy playing svayka"
lied about (or wallowed) at the entrance to the palace
being broken and deformed.
The corner parade room, that room where was the Mobile Iconostasis of Alexandr I, was blowed up . It was transformed into the mountain of blocks.
Inside of the wounded Alexandr Palace is empty and dirty. Everything is robbered, destroyed, cut into peaces and fired to. All decoration staff of the last Romanov's rooms has destroyed. It was used as fuel.
Parade Rooms- masterpiece of Kwarengi - is deformed.
Gold painted baget of the walls is cut up by axes.On the walls there are a lot of trite (or stale) inscriptions in Spanish and Deutsch as well as a lot of indecent drawings.
There is no one door in the palace. All of them are destroyed or pilfered."

there is more one extract about AP of the "Tsarskoe Selo" of another guide-book issued in 1999: "
During of the first months of the Grand War the chandeliers,carpets, furniture, marble and porcelaine items were evacuated from AP Museum. After the occupation of the Pushkin town by German troops, German Headquarters and Gestapo located in the rooms of AP. Germans used the cellar as a prison; the square before the palace was used as the cemetery for SS soldiers.
After the war was finished, the palace was conservated,
and in the June of 1946 the palace was passed to the Academy of Science of USSR in order to hold there collections of the Institute of Russian Literature.
It was also planned to open the Soviet Pushkin Museum in the palace. In this connection , in 1947-1951 years, the restoration has begun. It was planned to restore the Quarenghi parade rooms, as well as the interiors of Nicholas I and Nicholas II times.
However, during the restoration works some decoration staff of Maple Room, Palisander Room of Emperess AF, as well as some staff of the Toilet room of Nicholas II which were still existed , were completely destroyed.
In 1951, according to the Governmental Decision, AP was passed to the Naval Ministery. and the palace collection went to Catherine Palace-Museum and Pavlovsk Palace -Museum".

Nikolai has on his site photographs of Pushkin during the war years which he will be updating. One is of the plan for January 15-24, 1944.

http://geglov2.narod.ru/Foto/Sentr/leont_01_a.htm

Joanna

Great pictures ! I wish the captions at least were in English though. I LOVE the one of the  "street sale". Can you imagine what was on offer ?

Joanna, that is a wonderful site.....wish I could read Russian!!  On page 2 is that the graves that were in the courtyard of the Alexander Palace?  How I wish I knew what the pictures were of.
Thanks!
..Arleen

Yes, those of the marked graves of the German soldiers.

 They should probably be identified and either removed to their homeland or  marked with permanent grave stones of some type.

Does anyone know if those remains have actually been removed from that site?

Hi Arleen & Robert,

To identify some of Nikolai's photographs that are hard to decipher {clique on link in orange}, this one is the ruins of the train station:

http://geglov2.narod.ru/jpg/Centr/Prevokz_pl/Istor/P1000171.jpg

Of A.N. Tolstoy's House on 8/13 Moscow street:

http://geglov2.narod.ru/jpg/Centr/Mosk_ul/Istor/P1010717.jpg

Of V.J. Shishova's house on 9 Moscow street:

http://geglov2.narod.ru/jpg/Centr/Mosk_ul/Istor/P1010719.jpg

Sadovaya & Leontievskaya streets where the water tower and imperial private stables:

http://geglov2.narod.ru/jpg/Ekat_dvor_zdan/Lisey/Istor/P1010722.jpg

Joanna

Joanna, Many thanks for these wonderful large photos.  They are really striking.....stark and heartbreaking.  Thanks for taking the time to translate them for us.
..Arleen

And I echo the sentiment. So very kind of you.
Cheers,
Robert

@LisaDavidson
Hallo Lisa,

that sounds interesting what you have written about your family.

Ich hab nur eine Frage, naehmlich: spricht man noch Deutsch in Ihrer Familie oder ist alles verloren? Es ist ja interessant, weil Sie adlicher Herkunft sind.

Vielle Gruesse,
Russ

Nazis used the doors of both palaces istead of the leisure boats in ponds of the Catherine park.
Mareshal Phon Reihau said that " None of Historical or Art Treasures in the East are valuable"
One prisoner Helmut Antes  said as follows : " I know that in 1941 in Germany the special "Kustcomission" was founded.  Such comissian during  1941-1942 all valuables from Pushkin palaces put into the tracks and
moved it to the Germany.  The function of this Committee was to take Palace's things in the occupied regions in Russia and to move it to Germany. I think that they took everything they saw."

The things which the Commission did not take was took or burned by the German Division No. 143 which stayed in  Catherine and Alexandr palaces.
Headquater and Gestapo were in Alexandr Palace.
Germans thought the location of the palace as more safe.
Gestapo was located at the private rooms of Alexandr II.

Here are 10 photographs of the damage to the Alexander Palace c1946:

http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001768106
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001767975
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753125
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753152
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753230
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753337
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2100755684
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753443
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753073
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753416

Interior c1946 appears to be the Mountain Hall with the enfilade of columns of the Portrait and Semi-Circular Halls:
http://photoarchive.spb.ru:9090/www/showChildObjects.do?object=2001753522

Joanna

Joanne - thank you for posting these amazing photographs.   The last photograph was shot in the Mountain Hall.   I recognise the scaglioli and the lilac marble inserts.

Certainly the balustrade was more intact than today.

tsaria