Over 500 paramedics trained at Petropavlovsk college during Great Patriotic War
A conference marking the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, titled "Medical Workers During the War: Courage and Legacy," was held at the Zhumagali Tleulin Higher Medical College in Petropavlovsk, Kazinform News Agency reports.
The conference participants explored the museum’s exhibits and attended a special exhibition.
The college was founded in 1930 as Petropavlovsk Medical College and was later restructured in 1939 into a school for paramedics.
According to Lyudmila Trapeznikova, chairperson of the college's veterans council, the institution has a rich history.
"In 1941, 180 people were admitted to the paramedic department and 22 to the nursing department, with 24 of them accepted without exams for their excellent performance. Due to the war, graduates did not take exams that year. On the first day of the war, 75 young women volunteered to go to the front. Many graduates of the college became war veterans. One of them, Maria Kitayeva, was drafted in 1943 from the village of Stanovoye, where she worked as a paramedic. She participated in the liberation of Donbass, Voroshilovgrad, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv, and met Victory Day in Vienna as a paramedic in a medical company. She was awarded the Order of the Red Star and many other medals. There are many such stories," said Trapeznikova.
Another college graduate, Bazarbay Tolebekov, served as a medical instructor in the 358th rifle division. After less than a year at the front, he was killed near the village of Myshkovo in the Smolensk region when a Nazi attack targeted the vehicle transporting wounded soldiers. His relatives only learned seven years later that he had been buried in a mass grave.
“Our museum holds Bazarbay’s personal belongings — his notes, his last letter, and a draft document. These were donated by his relatives in 2015, when the museum was established. During today’s event, we transferred some of these items to the regional history museum,” said the college staff.
Ahead of the significant anniversary, the exhibition "Steps of the Great Victory" opened in Petropavlovsk.
As reported earlier, a memorial honoring three Soviet soldiers who perished during an escape attempt from a Nazi camp in the village of Ostad in March 1945 was unveiled in the municipality of Vestvågøy in the Lofoten Islands, Northern Norway.
