DZERZHINSK

also spelled Dzerzinsk, formerly (until 1929) Rastyapino city, Nizhegorod oblast (province), western Russia. Dzerzhinsk lies along the Oka River upstream from its confluence with the Volga River at Nizhny Novgorod. Part of the Nizhny Novgorod metropolitan area, Dzerzhinsk and its satellite towns stretch for 15 miles (24 km) along the Oka. The city is 32 miles (51 km) west of Nizhny Novgorod and 240 miles (390 km) east of Moscow. It was renamed in 1929 in honour of Feliks E. Dzerzhinsky, the first head of the Soviet secret police. Dzerzhinsk is one of the most important centres of the Russian chemical industry, producing phosphate and nitrate fertilizers, materials for synthetic textiles, and plastics. The city is also known for the production of building materials and flour milling. During the Soviet period large quantities of chemical weapons were manufactured there, and the locality is now severely polluted from the unsafe disposal of toxic chemical wastes. Dzerzhinsk hosts a school of engineering and is a station along the MoscowNizhny Novgorod railway line. Pop. (1995 est.) 285,000.