News

01.12.2012

Alexandr Nikolaevich Beliaev, mayor of Severodvinsk from 1996-2010

Alexandr Nikolaevich Beliaev, mayor of Severodvinsk from 1996-2010, recently passed away at age 59.

He was a very strong supporter of PSC during his many years in office, especially of the student exchanges and receiving visitors form Portsmouth.

His openness and his vision helped PSC to improve relations between the two cities and he will be sorely missed.

He was buried in Severodvinsk on January 11, 2012.  PSC has lost a true friend.

12.06.2011

PSC Fall 2011 Newsletter

PSC Fall 2011 Newsletter

 

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05.09.2011 (Update - 06.10.2011)

PSC to Host third Open World Delegation June 18-26

The following Russian environmentalists will visit Portsmouth to meet their professional counterparts and others in third Library of Congress supported "Open World" delegation we have hosted in recent years.

Zaur Abdullayev, Severodvinsk office of Environmental Protection; Lyena Kharitonova: Severodvinsk specialist in utilities; Vidas Kriauchiunas, research assistant in radiology, Arctic Institute for Ecological Porblems;

Anastasia  Mityukova, vice director of Ecology Nord, LLC (recycling business); Nadezhdah Gargarina, counsel for Severodvinsk environmental business enterprise; Yuriy Samorodov, Moscow, English speaking facilitator

The group will have a full professional program during the day and there will be many informal evening gatherings where they can meet the public. Full program agenda will be on the web site in early June.

Program  for Open World Visit June 18-26, 2011

(CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO VIEW THE PROGRAM!)

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03.08.2011

WINTER  2011  NEWSLETTER

Note - All articles written by editor Alex Herlihy unless otherwise noted.

The PSC was founded in 1994 to bring together the people of these two regions and to promote, among other things, the peacetime conversion of its two huge submarine shipyards. Environment has been the main theme of PSC and a renewed "Green Connection" is the focus going forward.

Table of Contents

1. April - Oyster River HS renews Exchange with Severodvinsk School

2. June - PSC to Host Second Environmental Group in June

3. Report on PSC Group's Visit to Russia in Fall of 2010

4. Travel to Russia Without Leaving Home

5. Student Visitor to Sev. studies Russian 

 Oyster River HS To Renew Its  Exchange with English School in Severodvinsk

A U.S. State Department grant united these two schools '01-'03 with an environmental theme and now they are reuniting on their own. On April 6, English teacher Marjke Yatsevitch, Principal Laura Rogers and her husband, and six students will travel to Severodvinsk and then spend two days at the end in St. Petersburg, before returning on the 21st. Gymnasia #14 will reciprocate with a visit to Durham in early November. The PSC will prepare some background material for the group so they can see the big picture of why they are going to this very northern city near the Arctic that is on a latitude somewhere north of Hudson's Bay.  We are hopeful that the younger generation will enliven connections between our two regions. 

 PSC Hosts Environmental Group in June Under Open World Program

From June 18-26, PSC will host five people from Severodvinsk who work in areas that have an environmental connection, including representatives from the local government and NGO community.  The specific theme of their visit is "Accountable Governance" so the program PSC creates will reflect the following:

Who acts as caretaker and protector of the environment and identifies and publicizes environmental problems? Who gets these issues proposed as legislative bills? Who guides them through to law? Who implements the law, acts as public watchdog on the laws and, if necessary, enforces the law? And how well does this process work?

The grant which funds this visit is from the Library of Congress and is the third such award PSC has received in the last four years. PSC plans to conduct a public forum event for the delegation at the Portsmouth Library to discuss common environmental challenges.

 Report on PSC Seacoast Environmental Delegation trip to Severodvinsk

 Travel to Russia Without Leaving Home

Seacoast Gymnast to Severodvinsk in '06 Now Studies Russian in St. Petersburg

PSC Working Committee

Most nonprofit organizations have very formal working boards with clearly defined officers and a separate Board of Advisers that typically include prominent names to give legitimacy to the cause.  Whether formal or informal, the PSC on both sides of the ocean has persisted with the help of many faithful "hod carriers" over the years since Macy Morse and Josh Handler first started the group in the early 90s. Some of those early people are still actively involved and to the rest, we appreciate all that you did. To get a sense of who is active today, below is the list of the working committee. When Russian visits loom, the list grows larger to include more of the 130 names on the PSC newsletter list. Note that dates are approximate.

 

Doug Bogen - original member from 1994  (to Sev. '10)

Cathy Wolff -   original member from 1994   (to Sev. '01 with students)

Svetlana Cote - native Russian speaker, joined early

Lois Fonda - mid 90's, (hosted many Russians, many visits to Russia; Sev. '02)

Paul Josephson - mid 90's; (many visits Sev. and to Russia)

Alex Herlihy, chair - '96  (many visits to Russia; Sev. '02)

Karolina Bodner, late 90's (visits to Russia '89, '90)

Nina Herlihy - late 90's; (hosted many Russians)

Matt Pappas - '01; (to Sev that year with students)

Dudley Dudley - last ten years; (help with hosting, fund raising, etc.)

Ellen Nunes - '06 (to Sev. that year with gymnastic group that PSC helped)

Lou Salome - '07 (to Sev. with PSC delegation in '08)

Roland Goodbody - '07 (to  Sev with PSC delegation in '08)

Silke Psula - '09 (to Sev. '10 with Env. delegation)

John Brissette - '09 (to Sev. '10 with Env. delegation)

Legislative Fellows Program for Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia

American Councils is implementing a short term internship program, funded by the Department of State that will bring young professionals from Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia to the U.S. Participants range in age from 25-35 years old and they are all very fluent in English. The internship could be at a local government, non-profit, law firm, etc. American Councils will take care of all travel logistics for the interns, including arranging housing.

The unique feature about this program is that it is a reciprocal exchange program. The hosting organization in the U.S. has the opportunity to apply for an exchange via American Councils to go to Russia, Ukraine, or Georgia to do a similar internship. It's a great opportunity to kick start a small scale project between two similar organizations, etc. There will be another round of interns who will come to the U.S. in September. I don't yet have any information about this group. Fingers crossed that one of the interns in September will hail from Severdvinsk or Archangelsk. If your organization is interested in hosting an intern in April – which is literally right around the corner – or in September, please contact Sarah Holly at s.holly.nh@gmail.com

 

11.09.2010

FALL  2010  NEWSLETTER

Note - All articles written by editor Alex Herlihy unless otherwise noted.

This newsletter contains four attachments, three of them articles by other members of the PSC committee plus a proposal for a special exhibit

Table of Contents

 1. Nov 9th event in Portsmouth (includes 3 attachments)

2. New high school exchange program

3. Severodvinsk Green NGO's

4. Internation Environmental exhibit proposal

5. Portsmouth Severodvinsk City Halls Connect

6. PSC Supports Severodvinsk Charity

7. Open World Grant to bring More Rusian Environmentalists to Portsmouth

8. Solevki Islands in White Sea: Dispute Featured on NPR

9. Excerpt From Lou Salome's book: "Violence Veils and Bloodlines: Reporting from War Zones"

10. Excerpt from Cathy Frierson's book: "Children of the Gulag"

11. A Russian Poem - "Rodina"

 

 Tuesday Nov. 9

 PSC Environmental Troika to present program of Their Recent Visit to Severodvinsk

On Tuesday November 9th at the Portsmouth Library's Levenson Room at 7 PM seacoast environmental professionals Silke Psula, Doug Bogen and John Brissette will share their experience of visiting Severodvinsk in late September to meet with their counterparts and enjoy legendary Russian hospitality. They will show a power point of their photos and answer questions and the PSC will have further information about its Green Connection outreach to bring together environmentalists in both regions.

Attachment #1 - ("Trip Report" click here) - this is a very full and detailed trip report on the group's visit to Severodvinsk by delegate John Brissette; since the group was together at all times, it reflects the general experience of the other two delegates.

Attachment #2 - ("Thx to Lyena" click here) - this is a special thank you from Silke Psula to our friend in St. Petersburg and former head of PSC in Severodvinsk, Lyena Podorozhnaya. Lyena went way beyond normal hospitality when the group's flight was delayed and they needed her.

Attachment #3 - ("Feeling the heat" click here) - This delegation had their time in the legendary Russian banya and PSC folks always like to compare their experiences when they return. At the last meeting PSC committee meeting the banya discussion inspired 2008 delegate to Severodvinsk Roland Goodbody to write about his time in the banya.

 

Oyster River High School Gears up  to Renew its Exchange with School in Severodvinsk

In 2000 the PSC received a 95,000 grant from the State Dept to establish an environmental high school exchange program. That linked ORHS in Durham with English Gymnasia #14 in Severodvinsk. Although the exchange ended when grant money ran out in 2003, the PSC maintained close ties with teachers and administrators at the school. (Katya Boikova and Lyuda Ermolina). Portsmouth HS, which had also participated in the original exchange, was not interested in renewing ties, but ORHS was after ending an exchange with a school in Veliky Novgorod. Now both schools are selecting participants and hosts so they may begin communicating. ORHS expects to spend the last two weeks of April 2011 in Severodvinsk with a visit to St. Petersburg at the end. School 14 in Severodvinsk has already been invited to Durham for early November of next year. The schools will choose a theme(s) for their exchange once they get organized and the PSC stands ready to assist whenever they are needed.

 

Connecting to NGO's in Severodvinsk

In the last few years the Russian and foreign  press has reported on an increasing number of NGO's becoming active in Russia. Whether it is to save Lake Baikal from the ill effects of a paper mill or fighting to save the Kimki forest north of Moscow from being clear cut for a new highway, Russians are becoming more active in protecting the environment. It was not that long ago that Americans will remember citizen's efforts were all we had in the 1960's until the big break through with Earth Day in 1970 and the creation of the EPA and passage of the Clean Water/Air Act. Russians are well aware that they must continue to speak out and protest abuses to their environment until their government finally begins to act as ours did. Eight years ago we met Vycheslav Chuntesev, the leader of a green movement in Severodvinsk and he is still active as we have learned recently, head of an unregistered NGO.  We expect to lean more from him in the coming months and perhaps he will be one of the delegates who will visit us next year on the Open World program.

 

Search for a Galvanizing Project for PSC Finally Over? (attachment #4: "A Proposal" click here)

Since the birth of the PSC there has been a need for a tangible, relevant and exciting project which members in both regions could work on. We hope that we have finally hit on that idea. The attachment in this newsletter which describes a proposal for a joint "Environmental Challenges" exhibit is the brainchild of Dmitri Ryzhikov, the young curator of the Severodvinsk History Museum which our troika visited.  We have revised and expanded his original proposal and present it for your consideration.

For this to work, there will need  to be a committee in each region and communication between them. The committees will make the necessary revision and initiate the project. The PSC will definitely need new people to get this project off the ground and see it through.  If you are interested in working on this project contact Alex Herlihy.  Watch for publicity.

 

 Portsmouth and Severodvinsk City Halls Connect

In 2002 Mayor Alexander Beliaev and his wife visited Portsmouth and had a memorable meeting with Mayor Sirrell. Beliaev was a strong supporter of PSC during is long tenure, but in 2009 he was replaced by by Mikhail Gmyrin. Our delegation brought greetings and gifts from Portsmouth City Hall and now an official invitation to Mayor Ferrini to visit Severodvinsk is in the mail. PSC has always believed that it is important to have the support and recognition of our respective city halls and we especially appreciate the ongoing support and interest of  Portsmouth city manager John Bohenko.

 

PSC Contributes to Severodvinsk Charity

Whenever a Portsmouth group or individual makes a visit to Severodivinsk, PSC has always tried to send  financial and/or other contributions to a charity to be determined by our friends there. For several years we supported "Solnishkoh" (Little Sun) a home for abandoned children up to the age of 18. We are waiting to hear where our most recent contribution was given.

Such connection to needy groups offers a chance for participation by people beyond the PSC to get involved because they know they have a direct link to the charity and that all contributions will be delivered safely.

 

Open World Program to Send Five Environmentalist to Portsmouth in 2011

In December PSC will learn the week it will receive a second environmental delegation from Severodvinsk. We expect that the make up of this group will be partly influenced by suggestions from our group that just visited. Based on recent visits, the themes of water pollution, solid waste, nuclear waste, etc are expected to be some of the main topics dealt with.  For these visits to be effective there needs to be continuity and communication between visitors and the counterparts they meet. Then there is a chance for some substantial discussion and possible future projects  If the PSC is successful in creating the international Environmental Challenges exhibit described above, then there is no reason why other projects cannot bear fruit.

 

NPR Weekend Edition Saturday Features Historic Solovki Islands in White Sea

When you google "npr" and click on "programs" and then "weekend edition Saturday" (Nov 6) you will find the feature they did on the historic Solovetsky also known as Solovki Islands in the White Sea. Residents of  Severodvinsk and Archangelsk feel a real kinship to these historic islands settled by Orthodox monks in the 15th century but also the home of a brutal prison camp from 1918 to the late 30's and the tragic demise of the prisoners. The islands today are in the middle of a dispute over ownership between the Orthodox Church with its 40 monks at the monastery on Solovki and the 1000 residents of the islands and the secular tour operators. These islands are designed by the UN as a World Heritage Site. This feature is well worth listening to or reading and there are photos as well. The reporter is Anne Garrels who many will remember for her fine reporting during the fall of the Soviet Union .

 

"Violence, Veils and Bloodlines: Reporting From War Zones" - an excerpt from Lou Salome's book

PSC committee member Lou Salome spoke about his experience reporting from war zones in the 80's and 90's at the PSC Portsmouth Library event last May. I can now say after reading his book that it is a highly relevant work of history and culture. Many will remember vividly hearing about the tragic events that he was right in the middle of during these tumultuous times. The chapter on the Soviet Union involves Lou looking for Jews who were immigrating to Israel and he hoped to drive with one of the families and file his story around that experience.

He is in  Soviet Ukraine around 1990 and this excerpt below provides some real comic relief to the sad stories he filed from so many tragic places.

"After several weeks of traveling on my stomach this way,my hunger quite naturally expanded in conjunction with the amount of food I was not eating. By the time I flew to L'vov, (Ukraine, L'viv in Ukrainian) famished, I was determined to eat on the night I arrived. After checking into the older of two Intourist hotels at dinner time, I made a forced march directly to the dinning room. Time was against me, as well as the fact that I was alone and government hotels at that time served only tour groups; individuals were a Western conspiracy.

I was shooed out of the overcrowded restaurant in the hotel. So I jogged to a larger one which was not busy. Thats where I drew a line on the tables. I hadn't eaten the entire day and had one meal the day before that.  If I didn't eat right there where the band was playing, the mood seemed bright and many of the tables were empty, I knew that sleep was my only chance of easing hunger pains that night. Tomorrow promised to be another bad eating day. When I entered the dining room I was prepared mentally to be a one-man group,  on a reconnaissance mission for a group, or even a tiny subset of a group - I was ready to assume any title, comply with any definition, for vittles.

Both the waiters and waitresses ignored me at first, preferring to drink coffee and smoke in a back room.  I found a table that was set for four, with plates already filled with salad, and sat down. Still I was ignored until I started to eat one of the salads. Then a thick-fingered waiter rushed over with his equivalent of a stop sign. A quick translation: "Grupa! Grupa! Only groups, you are not a group. Get out!"  The waiter, of noticeable sinew, pulled hard on my right arm, trying to jerk me out of the chair or pull the chair from the room with me on it. And I wasn't even taking photographs. I resisted, shouting in English as he shouted in Russian. We each knew what the other was saying, without an exact translation. The band played on. By now we were the featured attraction, a Chaplinesque interlude during what was becoming an otherwise sour dining occasion.

When I held my ground, the waiter left in anger, then returned to remove the salad that I had been eating.  He carried my precious salad to the waiter's table along a wall.  Undaunted, I retrieved the salad, walked back to my table and continued to eat. There was a point to be made here. My anger was rising, but all these physical antics were becoming funny. Maybe I should have laughed out loud, but i didn't. This agent of Intourist hospitality tried again to separate me from my chair. Failing that he picked up my entire table and transported it to the side of the room. There I sat, alone, in the middle of the room, with no table and no food, thinking that maybe my calling in L'vov was to play the part of a stooge.

For a moment, I considered taking a bow, but thought better of that when I remembered  that I was a lone visitor from another tribe in the waiter's homeland.  But if the waiter could move the table, I could move the chair. Within  moments I picked up my chair and held it behind me as if I was still sitting and carried it to the table where I resumed eating. The waiter then surrendered in that logistical war of attrition. He moved the table back to its original location, brought me two bottles of mineral water and held up four fingers, switching tactics and trying to get the last word. Although I was not a group I could stay, he was indicating., but i must pay for four people because I was sitting at a table for four and eating all those salads.

"Nyet, Nyet," I said, digging deeply into my vast Russian vocabulary and refusing on principle to be a real group or to yield to his demand. I held up only one finger. Four, one; four, one, we we shouted snappily back and forth with our fingers  . earlier I would have been happy to agree to pay for four meals, but at that point I had to object because of the way I had been treated. My waiter did not press his demand, probably because he did not want to get into a water fight.

All the salad dishes were mine to eat. But no one would bring me more food. In the end I ate all the salads, but not much of a meal. To continue with the allusion, I sort of won a few battles but lost the war.The bill was 4.35 rubles, or about 70 cents. I gav4e the waiter 10 rubles, $1.65, which angered him at first because he did not want to make change. I waved him away when he brought the change. With such a tip he was no longer an angry old waiter, but a smiling one at least.  In the middle of all this, I was really trying to teach the waiter that he could seat fewer than four people at a table for four, perhaps several times in an evening, to make more money and receive more tips. Perhaps much about the lesson was lost in translation.

The following day I returned for lunch because there was no other handy place to eat or quarrel. A quick study, relatively speaking, the waiter greeted me warmly. He seated me immediately  and later showed a couple, deeply in the grasp of love and lust, to my table for four. The food was better, the comic drama was in recess and my tip made the waiter smile even more broadly than the night before."

 

 "Children of the Gulag" an excerpt from Cathy Frierson's book

The other author highlighted by PSC's event in May was Cathy Frierson. Her seminal work with Russian colleague Semyon S Vilensky, "Children of the Gulag" chronicled in painful detail the impact the Gulag prisons had on the children of the prisoners.  I cannot recommend this work too much because it not only speaks to the tragedy and depravity of the human condition, but also to its resilience, compassion and humanity. There is a scene toward the end of the book which deals with the aftermath of Stalin's death in March,1953. The author writes:

"Irina Dubrovina was living in Kotlas when Stalin died. Stalin's portrait was the sole decoration in the room she shared with another teacher in the school where she taught. It continued to hang on the wall well into the fall of 1953."

The excerpt below is a quote from Irina Dubrovina:

"A friend of mine, a chemist, came by and said, 'How are you still able to live with that portrait? Its time to do something with it.'    (Irina responded) " You know, I can't quite bring myself to do it; after all its school property, and this room also do4es not belong to me.'  (her friend responded) 'Not to worry, we'll do it right now.'

She locked the door, took down the portrait (it was just a poster placed in a frame) and pulled out the poster.  And she had already gone to the bookstore, which was not far away, and bought a reproduction there, a lithograph, of Levitan's 'Golden Autumn.'  And she said, 'We'll replace this right now.'  So, the portrait hung one way, we turned the frame around, placed Levitan's 'Autumn' in it and hung it on the wall.  I got a big basin, poured some water into it, and over this basin we burned his portrait. Our faces were jubilant! It was as if we carried out his execution. But, of course, this was a secret we kept strictly with each other." 

                                     

A Russian Poem

In the spirit of the above quotation in which Russians love of nature has helped see them through the most tragic times, I offer one of my favorite poems - Rodina (My Native Land).  Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, contemporary, and for many an equal, of Alexander Sergevich Pushkin, lived an even shorter life (1814-1841). He is best known for many long poetical works such as "The Hero of our Time" and "The Demon," but for me it will always be "Rodina" where Russians deep connection to and love of nature is so evident. And in the spirit of the America's  other national anthem "America the Beautiful," Rodina could easily be the Russian anthem, and for some Russians maybe it is. Isn't this what a real anthem of the people should be - one that extols not its wars and military might, but its land and people?

 

Rodina

"I love  my country, but my love is strange

And rare, a love that reason cannot change.

It is not my country's victories, nor fame

So dearly bought with blood, nor ardent claim

Of rich tradition, glory and command

That stir sweet reveries about my native land.

 

Not these bring quiet joy. I love - I know

Not why - her rivers at the flood like seas,

The voices of her boundless forest trees,

The frozen silence of her plains in snow.

I love to ride for days inside a jolting cart

On dusty lanes, and, searching slow the evening shadows,

To dream of lodgings near and hail with thankful heart

A blur of trembling village light among the meadows.

 

love the smell of stubble burning,

The wagons huddled on the plain

At night a pair of silver birches

Above a field of yellow grain.

With gladness few can share, I see

The grain upon upon the threshing floor,

The lowly cottage with its trim

Above the window and the door.

I'm glad to watch on holidays

The stamp of dancers on the ground,

And hear until the morning's near

The talk of tipsy peasants round.

                  

                   

11.04.2010

"Journey to Northern Russia: From the Piscataqua to the Dvina"

Three seacoast environmental professionals traveled to Severodvinsk, Russia for a week in late September as part of the Portsmouth Severodvinsk Connection's effort to forge a "Green Connection" between the two regions. Silke Psula, director of solid waste/recycling for city of Portsmouth, John Brissette, research forester with the US Forest Service in Durham and Doug Bogen, director of the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League met their counterparts and shared information and ideas.

They will present a power Point and answer questions about their visit on Tuesday November 9th at 7 PM in the Levenson Room.of the Portsmouth Library. Environmentalists of all persuasions are especially invited to this event and welcome to join the international effort, but it should be of interest to the general public as well. Portsmouth and Severodvinsk have been active sister cities since 1994.

 For further info. please contact PSC chair Alex Herlihy - alexherlihy@comcast.net or (603) 997 6742.

                     

05.18.2010

"0yster River HS renews high school exchange with Severodvinsk"

English Gymnasia #14 in Severodvinsk, the only one of its kind in the city, has only had one exchange with Oyster River HS and Portsmouth HS under State Dept. Grant '01-'03.

In March of '09 students  from this school made a special visit  to Oyster River HS  lead by our friends Katya Boikova and Lyudmila Ermolina. The visit was a final goodwill gesture by out-going Mayor Alexander Beliaev who secured funding for the trip.  But we thought that was the end of it since ORHS was about to start a new exchange with a school in Novgorod and Portsmouth HS expressed disinterest.

That  new ORHS exchange collapsed last Friday and ORHS has enthusiastically decided to renew its exchange with Severodvinsk!  If all goes well, it will begin with a visit this November  and be reciprocated the following April by ORHS going to Severodvinsk. It is hoped that they will adopt the environmental theme of the PSC.

We all know that this new exchange adds great dimension to the PSC with even more regular contact and especially hope for the future with young people involved on an ongoing basis.

 

05.16.2010

Newsletter - Spring 2010

To view the latest (Newsletter, please click here)

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05.12.2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April, 30, 2010
Contact: Alex Herlihy
(603) 997 6742
alexherlihy@comcast.net

Gulag to Tribal ‘Stans
Two Local Authors to Discuss New Books

PORTSMOUTH, NH – Two Seacoast authors will discuss neglected aspects of 20^th century Russian history – the impact of Stalin’s Gulag and the influence of tribalism – at a forum Monday May 24, 6:30 PM in the Levenson Room of the Portsmouth Library.

The program is organized by the Portsmouth/Severodvinsk Connection (PSC) and co-sponsored by River Run Bookstore and the Portsmouth Library.  The PSC has organized citizen exchanges with Russians for 16 years and recently become a part of Sister Cities International. The forum will include a short power point presentation on PSC history and the organization’s renewed focus on environmental issues.

In “Violence, Veils and Bloodlines: Reporting from War Zones,” veteran foreign correspondent Louis J. Salome of Portsmouth looks at how perceptions of self, family and tribe affect world conflicts, including the former Soviet Union states of Central Asia. The book, published this spring by McFarland, is “a delightful and insightful guide (by) one of the best of a dwindling breed of adventurous foreign correspondents,” according to Doug Struck, a formerly  Washington Post and Baltimore Sun correspondent.  The book is enriched by Salome’s understanding of tribalism under his own roof.

"Children of the Gulag,” by UNH history professor Cathy Frierson, steps back farther in history to examine the impact of 75 years of severe Soviet repression of generations of children..  Millions of Soviet citizens were labeled “enemies of the state” and imprisoned or executed during those years. Their children usually became state wards.

Published this year by Yale University Press, the book was co-authored by Semyon Vilensky, a Gulag survivor and member of Russia’s Presidential Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression.  It includes interviews with many survivors as well as former top-secret documents.

The Portsmouth/Severodvinsk Connection, united by the large submarine shipyards in both cites, was established in 1994 at the urging of Greenpeace, with the hope that citizen to citizen contact could help resolve some of the post-Cold War issues. More than 180 Severodvinsk and Seacoast residents, including students, teachers, government officials, journalists, environmentalists and others have participated in exchanges. The PSC will send a NH environmental delegation to Severodvinsk in September which will serve as a catalyst to unite other “Greens“ in both regions.

 

09.06.2009

PSC to host it's second Open World delegation

The PSC will host its second Open World delegation funded by the Library of Congress from Oct 10-18.  Five Russian environmentalists and one facilitator from the Severodvinsk and Archangelsk region will visit the Portsmouth and surrounding areas to learn about recycling, waste disposal, nuclear waste issues and many other environmental efforts in this region. If interested in meeting and talking to them, contact the PSC by writing - alexherlihy@comcast.net

 

06.28.2008

Portsmouth delegation to visit 70th anniversary of Severodvinsk, Russia

Plans are almost complete for the visit of our delegation of five members to Severodvinsk in July to help celebrate the city's 70th anniversary. The group will leave July 21st arriving in Severodvinsk on the 23rd (the official celebration takes place July 25-27)

They leave Severodvinsk on the July, 30th by train for St. Petersburg where they will stay until they return home on Aug. 4th. After that point we will organize a party to hear about their visit and see their pictures.

The delegation consists of:

Lou Salome - Veteran newspaper reporter, who covered the Soviet Union.

Betsy Kimball - Russian speaker and traveler and educator.

Roland Goodbody - UNH special collections archivist, actor and host of WUNH's Ceili show.

Nicloe Kimball - Who visited Severodvinsk twice in 2001 and 2003 under the student exchange.

Paul Josephson - Who you all know and who helped the group with  the travel plans.

 

06.28.2008

Pending visit from students & teachers of Severodvinsk, Russia

Looking to the future, we can expect a visit sponsored by the Severodvinsk city goverment and some business people of a group of 8 students and 2 teachers next spring for ten days; they will be staying with hosts from Oyster River HS in Durham, Lee and Madbury, but will be  spending a lot of time in Portsmouth.

06.28.2008

PSC applies for second "Open Word" grant!

As for Open World program, we will be applying for a grant again to host a delegation next year, possibly environmentalists.