The photograph from the museum collection depicts people from the circle of the writer Arkady Petrovich Gaidar in Perm — employees of the newspaper “Zvezda”: Galina Nikolaevna Plesko, Alexander Vasilyevich Plesko, Nikolai Fyodorovich Kondratyev, Boris Nikandrovich Nazarovsky.

Arkady Gaidar arrived in Perm from Moscow in late October 1925 with minimal belongings: he had a duffel bag with books from the Leningrad almanac “Kovsh, ” which included his first novella “In the Days of Defeats and Victories.”

The arrival of the aspiring journalist and writer at the editorial office of the Perm newspaper “Zvezda” was facilitated by his old connections from Arzamas. Two of his former classmates from the Arzamas Real School and friends from the Komsomol organization of Arzamas, Alexander Plesko and Nikolai Kondratyev, worked here. The former was the deputy editor of “Zvezda” from 1923 to 1925.

In those years, the editorial office of “Zvezda” was located at 42 Lunacharsky Street, Perm, in a two-story stone building, which also housed the journalists’ apartments.

Galina Plesko, the wife of Alexander Plesko, worked as the secretary of the labor life department at the newspaper. She immediately involved Arkady in editing the notes of the labor correspondents.

On the eve of the eighth anniversary of the October Revolution, “Zvezda, ” like all other newspapers, was supposed to publish material about the event. Arkady Golikov began writing a story for the holiday issue. It was “The Corner House” — his first work published in “Zvezda.” It was also the first text signed with the author’s pseudonym — “Gaidar.”

There are several versions of the origin of the second surname. One of the most common explanations, proposed by the writer Boris Yemelyanov, is that,

However, according to the writer’s son, Timur Gaidar, this version is untenable. Firstly, the word “Gaidar” does not exist in Mongolian with that meaning, and secondly, Timur Gaidar believed that Arkady Gaidar was not boastful. As the writer’s son recalled, his father enjoyed altering words and using codes of his own creation from a young age. Additionally, in his youth, Arkady learned French, was fluent in it, and used it throughout his life, including in letters to friends. In French, the prefix “d” or “de” indicates origin. Thus, Timur Arkadyevich believed the pseudonym could be deciphered as follows: “G” — the first letter of the surname Golikov, “AY” — the first and last letters of the name Arkady, “D” — French for “from, ” “AR” — the first two letters of his hometown. Therefore, “G-AY-D-AR” translates to “Golikov Arkady from Arzamas.”