Ms Vera Portnova was born on August 21, 1921 in Bezhetsk in a working-class family.
In 1929, 8-year-old Vera went to school in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Later, she returned with her parents to her hometown, where she finished school in 1939 and immediately entered the Faculty of Philology at the Leningrad State University. She combined her studies with work: from September 1940 to August 1941, she performed the duties of a card reader at "Lengorspravka" (Leningrad City Information Office).
However, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War made its own adjustments to the girl's life - she managed to finish only two years at the university. From August to April 1942, Vera Portnova worked in production, thereby making her a feasible contribution to the common victory.
In 1942, Ms Portnova entered the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies with a degree in Chinese. After graduating from it, she received the qualification of an assistant translator of Chinese. In addition to Chinese, she was fluent in English.
From 1949 to 1951, she worked with the publishing house of literature in foreign languages as an assistant to the editorial director. At the beginning of 1951, she moved to her husband's place of service in Minsk and from February 20 she got a job of librarian of the department of foreign periodicals of the State Library of the BSSR named after V.I. Lenin (now the National Library of Belarus). Ms Portnova also entered the correspondence department of the M. Gorky Minsk State Pedagogical Institute (now the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after M. Tank) with a degree in library science, which she successfully finished in 1956.
After two years of work in the library, she was transferred to the position of Senior Librarian, and two years later she became Head of the Foreign Literature Section.
Vera Portnova is on the far right
Since July 1961, she headed the Scientific Reading Rooms Section created to improve the service for scientists. Ms Portnova provided qualified service to her readers, treated everyone kindly and with respect, and tried to satisfy all the scientific interests of her visitors.
She always made practical proposals to improve the efficiency of her section, rooted new, promising areas of activity.
Vera Portnova is in the front row
She took an active part in research and methodological work. She generously shared the accumulated knowledge with her colleagues from the regions, making presentations at seminars and conferences, traveling on numerous business trips.
Ms Portnova enjoyed well-deserved authority in the team and among readers. Her fruitful work was rewarded with a number of awards, including the badge of distinction of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, Diplomas of the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR and the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR, the anniversary medal "For Valorous Labor" and others.
Ms Portnova was active in public life: she was repeatedly elected a member of the local committee of trade unions and a deputy of the Lenin Council of Workers' Deputies of Minsk, for many years was the treasurer of the local committee.
Vera Portnova is the third from the right in the front row
On January 14, 1983, she retired, having devoted a remarkable 32 years of her life to the Library.
Colleagues remember her with love and respect: "Ms Portnova was an extraordinary clever woman," said Ihar Zholudzeu; "I was lucky because Vera Ivanovna Portnova in this section (the Foreign Literature Section). She was my teacher in everything: in work and in all matters of life. Even closer than mother," recalled Liudmila Shatsko.
Unfortunately, the further fate of Ms Portnova is unknown. We continue our search work and we will be grateful for any information from people who knew Mr s Portnova.
Bibliology Research Department
Read about the veterans and employees of the National Library of Belarus in the news section “Our History: a Portrait Gallery.”
