Rzhev

city Rzhev Ржев flag coat of arms Federal district Central Russia Oblast Tver Urban district Rzhev mayor Alexander Kharchenko First mention 1216 City since 1775 surface 56  km² population 61,982 inhabitants (as of Oct. 14, 2010) Population density 1107 inhabitants / km² Height of the center 190  m Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone code (+7) 48232 Post Code 172380-172391 License Plate 69 OKATO 28 445 Website www.rzhevcity.ru Geographical location Coordinates 56 ° 15 '  N , 34 ° 20'  E Coordinates: 56 ° 15 '0 "  N , 34 ° 20' 0"  E

Location in the western part of Russia

Location in Tver Oblast

List of cities in Russia

Rzhev ( Russian Ржев , pronunciation ^{? / I} ) is a Russian city ​​in Tver Oblast . It has 61,982 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) and is located about 200 km west of Moscow on the upper reaches of the Volga . The distance to the regional capital Tver is around 130 km to the northeast; The closest town is Subzow , around 20 km southwest of Rzhev.

history

Aerial view

War memorial in Rzhev

The city of Rzhev was first mentioned in 1216. From the 13th to the 15th century it was fought over several times between the principalities of Smolensk , Tver , Moscow and Lithuania ; only in 1449 did Rzhev finally come under Moscow rule. In the middle of the 19th century, after the construction of the railway line from Moscow to Riga , which runs through Rzhev, the city developed as an important trading center for flax products .

During the Second World War , the city was occupied by the German Wehrmacht on October 14, 1941 and was contested for over 16 months, resulting in over a million casualties on both sides. With the Rzhev-Sychovka operation in the summer of 1942, the Red Army attempted to push back the Wehrmacht on this section of the front, which their now numerically far superior forces only partially achieved by liquidating German bridgeheads on the left bank of the Volga. From late summer to the end of 1942, the German armored division "Greater Germany" was deployed, which in turn did not succeed in advancing towards Moscow again. On March 3, 1943, Rzhev was recaptured by troops of the Western Front of the Red Army after the Wehrmacht had cleared the front arc of Rzhev. Military historians called Rzhev the "corner point of the Eastern Front" because of its strategic importance.

• See also: Battle of Rzhev

The city was completely destroyed in the fighting. More than a sixth of the city's population was deported to labor camps during the German occupation ; about 9,000 people were killed in a concentration camp that was being built in the city center. During its occupation, the 9th Army of the Wehrmacht systematically committed crimes against the civilian population and Soviet prisoners of war, and this continued when they withdrew in March 1943 (Operation Buffalo Movement). Of 5500 buildings in Rzhev, 500 buildings on the outskirts have been preserved, and 362 of the 60,000 inhabitants survived.

In July 1944, two agents who were supposed to assassinate Josef Stalin were dropped off at Rzhev as part of the " Operation Zeppelin " .

German-Russian youth camps have been held in Rzhev every year since 1997 as part of the “ Reconciliation over the graves ” campaign. The Park of Peace was established in 2002, which also includes the German war cemetery in Rshew and the neighboring war cemetery for fallen Soviet soldiers in World War II.

Population development

year	Residents
1897	21,265
1939	54,070
1959	48,971
1970	60,671
1979	68,858
1989	69,808
2002	63,729
2010	61,982

Note: census data

traffic

The city is connected to the main east-west and north-south connections of the railways and roads (including the M9 trunk road ). Inland shipping runs via Tver with its large port on the Volga. Trunk roads lead to Veliky Novgorod , Pskow , Smolensk , Bryansk , and also to Belarus , Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia .

economy

The largest five companies in the city can be assigned to mechanical engineering. The construction industry is the second most important employer.

Education and culture

Rzhev has 15 schools, three sports schools and a youth center. The children's groups at the youth center have already toured abroad several times , including in Gütersloh , Kassel and Tours ( France ).

Town twinning

Guest gift from the city of Rzhev to their partner city Gütersloh

The city has entered into several city partnerships: with Salo in Finland, the cities of Smila and Kowel in the Ukraine, Katrineholm in Sweden, Silistra in Bulgaria and, since 2008, with Gütersloh in Germany. Rschew also maintains friendly relationships with other North Rhine-Westphalian municipalities and exchanges between German and Russian young people.

sons and daughters of the town

• Grigori Schpilko (1872–1936), officer and Pamir researcher
• Vladimir Melnikov (1935-2010), politician
• Juli Kwizinski (1936–2010), diplomat and politician
• Lyudmila Shachotko (1940–2016), demographer, economist, sociologist, geographer
• Vyacheslav Skok (* 1946), water polo player

Web links

Commons : Rzhev  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ржев. In: mojgorod.ru. (Russian). 
• Ржев. Городской интернет-портал Ржев. (Russian). 
• Ржевская битва 1941–1943 гг. In: narod.ru. March 3, 2013, archived from the original on April 6, 2020 (Russian). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
2. ↑ Paul Kohl: I am amazed that I am still alive: Soviet eyewitnesses report. Gütersloh 1990, ISBN 3-579-02169-9 , pp. 156-165 .
3. ↑ Alexey Likhotvorik: Русская армия в Великой войне: Картотека проекта: Шпилько Григорий Андреевич. In: grwar.ru. February 5, 2017, accessed July 4, 2020 (Russian). 
4. ↑ Vyacheslav Skok. In: Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020 ; accessed on July 4, 2020 (English).