When you take a glance at massive KPI campus buildings where almost 40 000 students are gaining knowledge, it is hard to imagine what it looked like after Kyiv had been liberated. .
When the invaders were fought in the beginning of November 1943, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, that used to be Kyiv Industrial Institute (KII) at that time, had to start its academic life from scratch.
On the 10th of November 1943 a decree was issued. It ordered to hire security, librarians, a gardener and metal casting laboratory workers - around 30 people in total. The number of stuff was vastly increasing. In the end of November 1943 recruiting of teachers began.
The studying began on the 15th of February 1944 after a short meeting of the university stuff was held in a drawing room at the building of the chemical faculty. There were only 66 students at the institute at that moment.
Besides studying, KPI students partook in clearing the debris on Khreshchatyk and its neighboring streets. They also helped build the sewer located beneath the left part of the street.
The Frontline at that time was located at somewhere 150 km north from Kyiv. The Soviet army attacked Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi enemy corps. Enemy scout planes were often flying over Kyiv while our anti-aircraft gunners were firing at them. However, the enemy did not have the heart to use massive bombing. A horrible Darnytsia railroad junction bombing was the first and the last bombing attack that took place a couple of days before the first of May 1944.
The main campus was used as a hospital and its part that had been previously used as a power station became a prison camp for the German soldiers.
Among the students that embarked on their studying at the beginning of 1944 there were the ones that had just come back from the frontline. The male students were only those who were discharged due to serious physical injury. They were O O.Vakhnyts'kyy, S.Kopans'kyy, P.Kyslyuk, M.Maksymovych, H. Mel'nyk, P. Parkhomenko, L.Petrushevs'kyy, O. Trubyenok, I.Chunyak. The female students who previously took part in military actions were the former members of partizan parties or the ones recently discharged from hospitals such as O.Bokryns'ka, H.Vlasenko.
A bit later veterans M.Vas'kovs'kyy, H.Vrzhosek, D.Hlukhov, O.Byelots'kyy, O.Domrachev, V.Zhohot, Ye.Krasovs'kyy, M.Mukhin, M.Pylypko, Yu.Radchenko, M.Samotryasov, K.Samofalov, I.Trush, V.Khil'chevs'kyy, V.Shlyuko entered the Institute.
Former students who stopped their studying in 1941 came back to the institute. They were Ya.Bratus', H.Vasyuk, V.Kybal'chych, L.Kotvyts'kyy, H.Ovsiyenko, S.Romanenko, P.Shylo, V.Yarmola.
The vast majority of former veterans who became students were diligent and later became highly skilled individuals who either occupied significant positions as workers or were prominent scientists. For instance, V. Yarmola had been working as a CEO of Kyiv Automatic Plant named after G. Petrovsky for many years before he died and was officially named a Hero of Socialist Labor. P. Shil who was CEO of plant “Tochelectroprylad” was awarded with the same title. P. Parhomnko was the associate of the Academy of Sciences of USSR. A group of veterans that used to work or keeps working at KPI are the winners of the most prestigious prizes. Professor I.Chyzhenko and Senior Scientific Researcher A. Nemyrovs'kyy were awarded with Lenin Prize of the USSR. H. Veskler and K. Samofalof were awarded with the USSR State Prize. Meanwhile, K. Samofalov was also awarded with State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology. O.Bokryns'ka, M.Mozharovs'kyy, P.Ornat·s'kyy, O.Pashchenko, L.Radchenko, Ya.Trokhymenko, H.Yefymenko and K.Yudin were awarded with Ukrainian SSR State Prize.
After the World War II had ended, the teachers and postgraduates, who had worked at KPI before the war, came back to work. They were Yu.Babenko, V.Balyts'ka, A. Bondar, O. Butuzov a, L.Byalots'kyy, I.Vnukov, V.Hnatovs'kyy, V.Vynoslavs'kyy, M.Iyeru-salymov, M.Kalnibolot·s'kyy, I.Kozynenko, A.Ornat·s'kyy, P.Ornat·s'kyy, L.Radchenko, S.Rebrov, O.Firstov, I.Chyzhenko, A.Chyzhevs'kyy and others. Almost all of them became the basis of a new KPI employees’ team. Due to them, the institute developed at even faster pace than it did before the war. After they had gained knowledge regarding teaching and organizing processes, the veterans who studied at KPI after the war joined their team. Some of the veterans were vice-rectors: I. Kalnibolotskii, I. Trush, A. Bondar, I. Chizhenko, V.Dovbyshchenko, I.Moskalenko, V.Hnatovskii. There were also veterans who worked as deans: Yu.Babenko, A.Butuzov, V.Vynoslavskii, V.Zhohot, M.Ilchenko, I.Kozynenko, I.Lubenets, M.Mozharovskii, B. Natarov, O. Ralko, S.Rebrov, O.Trubenok. There were also veterans who were Heads of a chair: O.Byelots'kyy, D.Hlukhov, O.Domrachev, S.Kalenchuk, M. Kalnibolots'kyy, M.Korol', Y.Mohyl'niy, O.Nikolayev, M.Panchenko, A.Ornat·s'kyy, P.Ornat·s'kyy, L.Radchenko, K.Samofalov, O.Trubenok, I.Fedchenko, V.Khil'chevs'kyy, L .Chemeryns'kyy, I.Chyzhenko, V. Shlyuko and others.
A lot of veterans had been in charge of teaching situation, economic work and deskwork. They used to be examples to follow. They were M.Bel's'kyy, V.Bilokopytov, Ye.Horelikov, Ye.Hrabchenko, K.Zhadovs'ka, H.Kyslyak, L.Motuzko, H. Popova, I.Sylayev, R.Tsyrendorzhiyev and others.
Unfortunately, many of those mentions in this article had gone. The war ended many years ago, but their wounds kept hurting over years.
H.Holikov was the only teacher at KPI awarded with the title of a Hero of the Soviet Union. He received this honorable title for being a successful commander of an infantry battalion which was decently fighting during the liberation of Ukraine and Moldova. Chasing the enemy, the battalion was the first to reach the USSR border and fight in Romania. Since 1945 H.Holikov had been a teacher at the military department of KPI. At the same time, he pursued higher education. He became a postgraduate at a military course at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Then he passed his Ph.D. defense. He worked as a teacher at National Defense University of Ukraine "Ivan Chernyakhovsky". In 1970 he had retired from military service and started working as an associate professor at KPI. He had been occupying this position until he died.
Nowadays there are 96 veterans who fought in the war that work at our university and 117 veterans who have never been at the frontline. All of them still remember the years of war and respect their friends and predecessors who had never came back after the war.
Veteran’s council of the university in co-operation with students’ groups “Poshuk” has been working hard for many years specifying the names of the students and staff members of KPI that deceased, died of injuries or disappeared during the war. At present, we know more than 170 of their names. The head of the veteran’s council D. Kuznietsov and vice-rector V. Pechenyk are discussing the idea of creating a memorial that would honor those who sacrificed their lives in the name of liberty and independence of our country. We hope that this memorial would be created before the 60th anniversary of the Victory Day.