Kharkiv Pharmaceutical Institute during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

At the beginning of autumn 1941 fascists had occupied the most part of Ukrainian territory; the war was to reach Kharkiv, the biggest city of the eastern region of Ukraine. Realizing that it was almost impossible to hold against the enemy attacks and trying to save industrious and scientific power concentrated there, the soviet government decided to give the command to start evacuating Kharkiv. The evacuation of Kharkiv Pharmaceutical University was carried out in three stages. The first group of the coworkers of the institute, as well as the most valuable equipment, was sent in the hospital troop train to the town of Propievsk of the Novosibirsk region. The second group with another part of equipment went to Novosibirsk. The rest of teachers led by Y.G.Borysiuk were evacuated to the town of Semipalatinsk of the Kazakh SSR where their workers who had come from Novosibirsk joined them some time later. The most part of the belongings was sent to Semipalatinsk. In the March of 1942, by the decision of the Soviet People Committee of the USSR and the order of the Committee of the healthcare, Kharkiv Pharmaceutical Institute started its teaching and manufacturing activity.

 Difficult conditions that accompanied the institute in Semipalatinsk impeded the start of the process of study. The first task to do for the coworkers of KhPhI was organizing rare medicine manufacture on the bases of  the laboratory of board of pharmacy  for hospitals and drug stores of the region: ether for anesthesia, urotropine, sodium chloride, potassium iodide, camphor oil and others.

 It was only in March 1942 when Kharkiv Pharmaceutical Institute started its teaching and manufacturing activity under the decision of Soviet People Committee of the USSR and the order of the Committee of the healthcare.

In September 1942, Dnipropetrovsk Pharmaceutical Institute arrived from Pyatigorsk to Semipalatinsk. And on the 29th of September of the same year, according to the order of all-Union Committee on high school affairs under Soviet People Committee of the USSR and People Healthcare Committee of the USSR No. 483, Kharkiv Pharmaceutical Institute was united with the one of Dnipropetrovsk. The director of DPhI, associate professor M.B.Volynska, became the head of the united educational institution. All the coworkers of KIPh who had been in the town of Semipalatinsk were listed to the positions corresponding to their qualification and took an active part in the further activity of the institute.