The exhibit is a chest-length portrait sculpture of Dmitry Arapov, the famous surgeon. It was sculpted by Lev Yefimovich Kerbel, a Soviet and Russian sculptor, academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, Hero of Socialist Labor, People’s Artist of the USSR, winner of the Lenin and Stalin Prizes of the 1st Class.
The sculpture was created in the 1970s based on a photograph of Dmitry Arapov taken in 1942. The surgeon is shown touching his chin with his right hand. His gaze indicates that he is absorbed in thought. The lab coat suggests that Arapov most likely posed before or after an operation. The sculpture was donated to the Center of Culture of Polyarny by the sculptor himself and it was later transferred to the museum.
From the very outbreak of World War II Dmitry Arapov was enlisted in the Northern Fleet as a chief surgeon, at that time he was already a fairly well-known doctor from the Moscow Research Institute named after Sklifosovsky. Subsequently, Arapov became a professor, academician and lieutenant general of medical service. In the span of the war, he passed his surgical skills onto 112 doctors. A selfless and talented surgeon, he brought hundreds of seemingly fatally injured Northern Fleet sailors back to life. He performed many truly unique operations.
Arapov’s high professional qualities went hand in hand with his courage: he participated in risky combat campaigns, accompanied paratroopers behind enemy lines, going as far as performing regular but strenuous duties of a front-line medic. Dmitry Arapov possessed a unique capacity for work. There were times when he stood at the operating table performing surgery after surgery for 14–16 hours in a row. While fulfilling his many daily duties, he continued his scientific research. His works on the prevention of postoperative complications still serve as a desktop manual for surgeons.
Members of the Northern Fleet are proud that the Professor, Lieutenant General of medical service Arapov, who has done so much for Russian medicine, practiced in the hospital of Polyarny in the most difficult years of its glorious history. In 1944, the Polyarny Naval Hospital was awarded the title of “The Main Hospital of the Northern Fleet of the USSR Navy No. 8020”.
