The telegraph device on display holds a special place in the exhibition of the Unecha Local Lore Museum, dedicated to the legendary Red Guard commander Nikolay Alexandrovich Shchors.
It is a single-action apparatus designed to record received telegrams on paper tape using Morse code. Morse code is a variable-length code in which each letter and symbol is represented by a unique sequence of short signals (dots) and long signals (dashes).
The exhibit was manufactured in 1940 at the Felix Dzerzhinsky State Union Losinoostrovsky Electrotechnical Plant. Morse telegraph machines were widely used at Russian railway stations until the mid-1950s, and in some remote areas — including the Unechsky section of the Belarusian Railway — until the mid-1960s.
Compact in size, the device occupies very little space, consumes only 15–20 mA of current, and enables telegraphic communication over distances of 400 to 600 kilometers.
According to local legend, it was through a device of this type — though an earlier model — that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin received telegrams in November 1918 concerning the revolution in Germany (the overthrow of Wilhelm II) and the fraternization between soldiers of the Bogun Regiment and German troops near Unecha.
After receiving a greeting telegram from German soldiers and residents of Bogun, Lenin immediately replied to Ivanov, chairman of the local communist organization in the village of Unecha:
“Thank you for welcoming everyone. I am especially touched by the greeting of the revolutionary soldiers of Germany. Now it is extremely important that the revolutionary soldiers of Germany take an immediate and effective part in the liberation of Ukraine… Time is running out. There’s not an hour to lose. Telegraph me at once whether the revolutionary soldiers of Germany accept this proposal…”
It was on a device like this that the telegram announcing Victory in the Great Patriotic War reached Unecha. The message was received by telegraph operator Zinaida Stepanovna Akimtseva.
On May 8, 1945, at 8 pm, she began her shift. Around midnight, an urgent telegram was announced. The Victory message — addressed to the entire town and railway leadership — contained 800 words. Zinaida Akimtseva carefully transcribed it and handed it over to the senior shift supervisor, who immediately began notifying the town and district executive committees by telephone.
When Zinaida Akimtseva returned home from work at eight in the morning, the entire town was already celebrating — people were crying and laughing with joy, welcoming the long-awaited Victory.
