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Perm, Russia

City in Perm Krai, Russia

  • 10 min read
  • 12 chapters
Kama River. Perm. Art Gallery (former Transfiguration Cathedral)
Alexxx1979 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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History

Perm is located in the old Permiak area. Perm was first mentioned as the village of Yagoshikha (Ягошиха) in 1647; however, the history of the modern city of Perm starts with the development of the Ural region by Tsar Peter the Great. Vasily Tatishchev, appointed by the Tsar as a chief manager of Ural factories, founded Perm together with another major centre of the Ural region, Yekaterinburg.

Modern Perm remains a major railway hub and one of the chief industrial centers of the Urals region. The city's diversified metallurgical and engineering industries produce equipment and machine tools for the petroleum and coal industries, as well as agricultural machinery. A major petroleum refinery uses oil transported by pipeline from the West Siberian oilfields, and the city's large chemical industry makes fertilizers and dyes. The city's institutions of higher education include the Perm A.M. Gorky State University, founded in 1916.

Perm grew considerably as industrialization proceeded in the Urals during the Soviet period, and in 1940 was named Molotov in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov. In 1957 the city was returned to its historical name.

Etymology

The name Perm is of Uralic etymology (Komi-Permyak: Перем, Perem; Komi: Перым, Perym). Komi is a member of the Permic branch of the Uralic languages, which is also named for Perm. In Finnish and Vepsian perämaa means "far-away land"; similarly, in Hungarian perem means "edge" or "verge". The geologic period of the Permian takes its name from the toponym.

Pre-industrial development

In 1723, a copper-smelting works was founded at the village of Yagoshikha. In 1781 it was granted city status and renamed Perm. Perm's position on the navigable Kama River, leading to the Volga, and on the Siberian Route across the Ural Mountains, helped it become an important trade and manufacturing centre. It also lay along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Perm was located on the route to Siberia and served either as a stopover or a final destination for many exiles under Tsarist and Soviet rule. According to Mikhail Speransky, in 1813, almost the entire population of Perm consisted of exiles. Many Polish insurgents of the November Uprising were exiled in Perm in the 1830s.

Perm was a city where Poles were allowed to settle after serving their sentences, as they were not permitted to return to Polish territory. Poles established a Catholic chapel in the 1830s, built a Catholic church in 1875, which also served Lithuanians and other nationalities, founded a Poverty Relief Society in 1897, and helped establish a local museum and theatre.

The city was devastated by a fire in 1842 and was subsequently rebuilt. Perm became a major trade and industrial centre with a population of more than 20,000 people in the 1860s, with several metallurgy, paper, and steamboat producing factories, including one owned by a British entrepreneur. In 1870, an opera theatre was opened in the city, and in 1871 the first phosphoric factory in Russia was built. In the 1880s, the city had over 20 industrial plants and over 60 craft workshops. According to the 1897 census, the largest minorities were Tatars (2.8%), Jews (1.8%) and Poles (1.6%). Apart from Orthodox and Catholic churches, the city also had a Lutheran church, an Old Believers church and a synagogue. In 1916, Perm State University—a major educational institution in modern Russia—was opened.

After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Perm became a prime target for both sides because of its munitions factories. It was heavily rumored from July–September 1918 that the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her four daughters were imprisoned at the perception and Berezine buildings. According to the file on the Tsar, the Grand Duchess Anastasia would have attempted to flee. On 25 December 1918, the Siberian White Army under Anatoly Pepelyayev (who acknowledged the authority of the Omsk Government of Aleksandr Kolchak), took Perm. On 1 July 1919, the city was retaken by the Red Army.

Soviet period

In the 1930s, Perm grew as a major industrial city with aviation, shipbuilding, and chemical factories built during that period. During World War II, Perm was a vital center of artillery production in the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, Perm became a closed city.

Modern city

The city is a major administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultural centre. The leading industries include machinery, defence, oil production (about 3% of Russian output), oil refining, chemical and petrochemical, timber and wood processing and the food industry.

In 1996 a memorial was erected in the Yegoshikhinskoe cemetery to deceased inmates of the Gulag, forced settlers and victims of the Great Terror.

On 5 December, 2009 a fire at the Lame Horse nightclub killed 156 people and injured over 100 more.

On 20 September, 2021, a mass shooting occurred at Perm State University, resulting in six fatalities and 40 injuries.

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