> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Muscovites observe the Great Solar Eclipse of 19 June 1936: a solar eclipse on the eve of the repressions - URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/moskvichi-nabliudaiut-bolshoe-solnechnoe-zatmenie-19-iiunia-1936-solnechnoe-zatmenie-nakanune-repressii/ - Published: 2025-11-26T06:34:04.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:55.000Z - Author: Alexandr Radayev - Tags: Archive, Moscow, Science, Society Muscovites observe the Great Solar Eclipse of 19 June 1936: a solar eclipse on the eve of the repressions. Photographs by Yefrem Yefremov. > Against the purplish-grey sky there flared a silken, silvery corona, of the form typical of the epoch of solar maximum. The absolutely black disc of the Moon, around which magnificent prominences were visible to the naked eye, made a striking contrast. Bright silver Venus and murky red Mars burned very close by. It was so dark that reading a pocket watch was no easy matter, and the horizon all round was stained with a blood-red dawn. This eclipse was also called the Great Soviet one: the path of its total phase ran through the Krasnodar Territory, the south of Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, covering 7,200 km of Soviet territory. > And the sun dims and dims. The Moon has covered most of the sun, and only a thin sliver is visible. The icy east wind grows ever stronger. The evening twilight that has fallen recalls an autumn night before snow. Slowly but inexorably the sun disappears. And when the last shaft of sunlight was swallowed up in the lunar shadow, electric bulbs flared up on the site. Three twinkling stars appeared in the sky: Mars, Venus and Delta in the constellation of Hercules. > In the place of the sun, around the black disc of the Moon, a sharp rim shimmers with a silvery, pearly light. It seems as though the sun has been crushed by some black monster and its last juices have seeped out to either side. This is the solar corona. > The freezing wind cuts through the human body. The horizon has turned a gamut of blue, orange, yellow and other barely perceptible, indescribable colours. On the site there is a solemn hush. Two thousand pairs of human eyes are fixed on the solar corona. Only cameras click, an aeroplane drones in the murky sky, and the flags raised above the site flutter. Soviet science had been preparing for the eclipse since 1934: costly equipment was ordered, sites were prepared, logistics organised. The eclipse was to be observed across the whole country, and not only by Soviet scientists and journalists but by delegations from all over the world, which meant arranging their invitations, entry into the country, lodging and travel to the observation sites. Trade made its preparations too, and society was made ready by an educational campaign, with explanatory texts published and meetings held with scientists. The eclipse was met and studied with dignity. The Czechoslovak writer Julius Fučík's report from Ak-Bulak in Kazakhstan, “Astronomers in the Steppe. Akbulak, City of the Sun”, would become very popular. Twenty-eight professional research expeditions observed the eclipse, with hundreds of scientists taking part: they made photographic records and calculations, tested hypotheses, new instruments and new materials, exchanged experience and theories, and drew up plans for further observations. Some even rose 5,000 metres into the sky in a plywood aeroplane to capture the solar corona. Millions of amateurs pressed to their faces the paper spectacles with special film that had been put on sale, or panes of glass blackened over a flame. **As early as November 1936 the arrests of Soviet astronomers began: within a year, in a single case alone, 100 people would be arrested, 20 of whom were shot.** **Many were charged with the international scientific contacts that they had been obliged to initiate and maintain on the eve of the eclipse. Boris Petrovich Gerasimovich, chairman of the eclipse commission, of the Pulkovo expedition, received the thanks of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences and a bonus of 2,500 roubles. In July 1936 the director of the Pulkovo Observatory was rewarded for his preparations for the eclipse; in June 1937 he was arrested, and in November he was shot.** [Parnassian Mockingbird](https://t.me/captainpaleo?ref=theparnassian.com) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18819@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18820@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18821@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18822@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18823@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18824@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18825@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg) ![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_18826@26-11-2025_09-34-04.jpg)