THE CITY OF BREST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600020142-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 2, 2002
• Sequence Number: 142
• Publication Date: May 26, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/07/12 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000600020142-8
CLASS I F] CAll ON SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATJ
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY Poland/USSR
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
UAIL l6 May 1952
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
1. The city of Brest-Litovsk (5206N-2343E) is an important railroad center of
some 50 thousand inhabitants. It lies on the east bank of the Bug River
where it forms the boundary between the USSR and Poland. To the south of
the city the Mukhovets River flows into the Bug in the vicinity of the old
fort. At the northern end of Brest is the suburb Arayevka and the village
Adamkovo, at the eastern end the railroad station Brest-East (Brest-Vosto-
chnyi). The area covered by the city is about six by six km square in a
flat region where there are practically no forests. The city completely
lacks any architectural or natural beauty. The streets are straight
and divide the city into regular squares, like a chess board. Brick and
stone buildings alternate with wooden houses, all of them rather shabby.
The typical official building is a three to four story brick construction
painted grey and covered with a tin roof. There is only one park in the
city and few trees along the streets. Only the principal streets are
lighted by electricity at night.
2. The main buildings are the following:
(a) The Oblast Soviet, on Lenin Street, is a square, barracks type
building, four stories high, painted grey and covered with a
tin roof.
(b) The Oblast Party Headquarters, a three-story brick building, is
located near the Oblast Soviet.
(c) The Oblast Hospital is next to the Party Headquarters, a four-story
brick building, tin-roofed.
(d) The Oblast Branch of the State Bank is a beautiful two-story brick
building, painted grey, tin-roofed, and surrounded by a wire fence.
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(e) Oblast MGB Headquarters, at the corner of Lenin and Levanevskiy Streets is a
three-story brick building painted a light color.
(f) The Headquarters Building of the 128th Rifle Corps, 28th Army, is a three-story
building with a tile roof. On the rear it borders on the city park "First of
May".
(g) The City Soviet on Sovietskaya Street is a three-story building painted red.
(h) The Post Office Building on Moskovskova Street is a two-story building painted
grey.
(1) The Oblast MVD Headquarters on Ostrovskiy Street is a grey, three-story building
covered with a tin roof.
(j) City Communist Party Headquarters, on Pushkinskaya Street.
(k) The City Power Plant, on Moskovskaya Street, is a red brick building, built in
1948 and lies behind the city park near the fort.
(1) The Radio Broadcasting Station, on the corner of Karl Marx and Mitskevicha
Streets is in a two-story brick building covered with a tin roof.
(m) Oblast Prosecutor's Office on Karl Marx Street.
(n) The City Jail is on Moskovskaya Street, close to the Mukhovets river.
(o) The Border Troops Barracks are located at the corner of Karl Marx and Moskovskaya
Streets, inside the fort. Border troops headquarters are located on 17 September
Street.
STREETS, PARKS AND MONUMENTS
3. The main street of the city is Lenin Street which runs from the bridge near the main
railroad station all the way south to the Mukhovets River. There is no street to the
West of it but on the east, and parallel to Lenin Street, is Karl Marx Street, These
two streets are crossed at right angles by the following streets: Mitskevich, Levan-
eskiy, Pushkinskaya, Mayakovskaya, Gogol, Budyennyi, Dzherzhinskii and Moskovskaya.
Along Lenin Street there are two rows of trees; new ones, planted in 1947-49, alter-
nate with older ones. The street is paved with octagonal asphalt bricks mixed with
cement and crushed stone. Sovietskaya Street and others are paved with cobble stones.
4. There is only one park, called "First of May". It is separated from Lenin Street by
an iron fence and surrounded on the other three sides by a board fence. About 20
meters from the main park entrance there is a common grave of soldiers killed in the
last war with a memorial bearing their names. Inside the park there are: an open
air theatre for movies and regular plays, a dancing floor, a restaurant, and a
number of booths selling beverages and cold foods. Brest does not have any historical
monuments. In 1948, however, a three meter high Stalin taonument was erected at the
corner of Lenin and Kitskevich Streets and the same year a Lenin Monument was set up
.n the childrens' playground on Svoboda Square. The creation of a new natural. park
on Moskovskaya Street is under way.
TRANSPORTATION
5. Brest is an important railroad center and has the following stations: Brest-Main,
Brest Poleskiy, Brest-East, Brest-West, Brest-North and Mukhoveto Military. All
these stations, located on the periphery of the city, are connected. Main railroad
liner from Brest are: Brest-Kiev, Brest-Moscow, Brest-Kovel and Breot-Warsaw. In-
side the city there are no street cars or trolley cars, only busses of the GAZ-2a
type. Bus lines also go to the suburbs: Kobrin, Kamenets, Shereshuly, Pruzhany.
There are also quite a number of taxis, recognized by "Taxi" written across the
windshield and a c common make of
cabs is "Pobeda".
F__
POPULATION AND HOUSING
6. The city population of some 50 thousand has increasdd somewhat after the war with
the arrival of military personnel and their dependents stationed in an& near Brest.
The Poles who lived in Brest before have gone to Poland for fear of deportation.
The majority of inhabitants are now Belorussians and Russians, with some 10-15 %
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of minority groups such as Jews, Tartars, Uzbeks, Georgians and Armenians. They lead
the same life as the majority and there is no discrimination against minorities, nor
any bad feelings among the various groupsl As far as I know there are no foreigners
living in Brest. I
7. During World War II the city was heavily damaged. Aerial bombings and artillery fire
destroyed 25% of all buildings completely and damaged 50% of all houses. In the post
war period some 25-30% of these buildings were repaired or reconstructed. The re-
building is still going on but with poor results. It is very difficult to obtain an
apartment or even a room in Brest. In most cases newcomers live as sub-tenants,
sharing a room with some other people. For these reasons the people have had to be
content with three or four square meters per person instead of the nine square meters
granted by Soviet law and it is very difficult to obtain from the City Billeting
Office e permit to move (Prupysk na zhitelstvo) to Brest. There are two hotels in
the city, used mostly by short-term visitors, such as traveling artists and theater
groups, government inspectors and party functionaries. There are only two regular
restaurants and three tea-rooms serving hot meals but a number of snack bars selling
various beverages and cold food.
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LIFE
8. The managers of enterprises and plants are authorized to hire the workers they need
without any restrictions. The workers accepting employment, however, are bound to
the enterprise and cannot leave it without proper authorization. Leaving a job
without permission is considered desertion and guilty individuals are subject to
prosecution and punishment. Workers wages are low in relation to the cost of living.
The main occupations of the city population are work on the railroad, in government
offices and enterprises, and in the local industrial cooperatives (Artel).
9. Basic commodities are unrationed and sold free on the markets and in the stores. There
are two markets in Brest which sell goods supplied by the collective and private farms.
A market stand costs three rubles per person. Milk, meat, and other perishable foods
cannot be sold without a sanitation certificate. In spite of all government efforts
to eliminate i-:., the black market exists and even flourishes. Regulations prescribe
that all consumers goods produced lorully must be sold through cooperative and
collective stores. This is considered disadvantageous by the producers who prefer
a quick sale for cash on the black market to the lengthy procedure of turning their
goods over to the collective stores. Black marketeers caught by the militia are
usually fined. A second violation of the same kind normally results in several
months of forced labor.
10. The only newspaper published in Brest is "Zarya" (The Dawn). It is printed in Belo-
rusian and Russian. No periodicals or magazines are published in Brest. About 20-
25% of the population own radio receivers capable of receiving foreign broadcasts.
VOA and BBC programs are jammed. However, as these propaganda broadcasts have very
little :elation with the hardships and realties of Soviet life, they do not make any
impressions, not even on those listeners who can hear them. As a rule, private tele-
phones are limited to government and high party officials. Apartments with installed
telephones represent some 10-15% of the available living quarters.
SPECIAL INSTITUTIONS
11. There are a series of health institutions in Brest, among them: the Oblast Hospital
on Lenin Street, the City Polyclinic on Pushkin Street, the Children F,olyclinic on
Svoboda Square, the Maternity Hospital on Perets Stree~, the Railroad hospital in
the suburb or Grayevka, the Army Hospital on Pushkin Street and two Public Health
offices, one in the Oblast Soviet and another in the City Soviet. There are no
scientific institutions or laboratories in Brest, only a preparatory school for
teachers, an Apprentice school and a Railroad Institute.
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