Soviet and Russian television reporter and documentary filmmaker Mikhail Degtyar recently shared a personal story on Facebook about one of Baku’s quiet urban legends Moisey Davidovich Shakhnovich, a man whose name once defined a place, a neighborhood, and an era.
In Soviet-era Baku, Shakhnovich was not a politician or a public intellectual. He was the manager of a grocery store. Yet for decades, the shop was known simply as “Shakhnovich’s.”
To this day, older residents still use the phrase “Let’s meet at Shakhnovich’s” – even though the store itself no longer exists.
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When Places Were Named by Memory, Not Signs
Degtyar recalls that Baku had many officially renamed streets, parks, and squares, but residents often ignored formal titles in favor of names shaped by habit and legend. The Molokan Garden, Trade Street (officially Nizami Street), and Shakhnovich’s grocery were all part of that informal city map – one passed down by word of mouth rather than signage.
Shakhnovich’s store was located near Trade Street and the former Vətən cinema. It was widely regarded as exceptional, not because goods were unavailable elsewhere, but because quality mattered.
Degtyar writes that Shakhnovich himself often sat on a chair near the entrance, indistinguishable at first glance from an ordinary shop worker. Regular customers knew better.
A Storekeeper – and a War Hero
Behind the everyday familiarity stood a remarkable life story.
Moisey Davidovich Shakhnovich was a genuine World War II hero. In October 1943, during the crossing of the Dnipro River, his unit came under intense machine-gun fire. According to archival records cited by Degtyar, Shakhnovich crawled toward the enemy position with a sapper’s shovel and neutralized the machine-gun crew at close range.
For this act – described in official documents as “bordering on self-sacrifice” – he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In Baku, this was no secret. Degtyar notes that whenever inspections from Soviet economic crime units appeared, they reportedly ended quickly once Shakhnovich appeared wearing his Hero’s Star. Not out of fear – but out of respect.
A Quiet Authority, A Personal Touch
Degtyar recalls visiting Shakhnovich before family celebrations, not for access, but for trust.
“You could buy sausages and vodka anywhere,” he writes, “but not of that quality.”
Shakhnovich was known personally to Heydar Aliyev, then First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. Degtyar suggests that this connection, combined with Shakhnovich’s wartime record, ensured that he was left in peace.
A Final Choice Respected
Shakhnovich died in 1982 at the age of 64. By Soviet protocol, Heroes of the Soviet Union were to be buried at the Alley of Honor.
However, Shakhnovich had expressed a different wish: to be buried at Baku’s Jewish cemetery.
Officials initially resisted, but his wife refused consent. When the dispute reached Heydar Aliyev, he ordered that Shakhnovich’s final wish be honored.
What Remains
The grocery store is gone. The sign is gone. The city has changed.
But the phrase remains.
In Baku, Degtyar writes, when people agree on a meeting point near that corner, they still say:
“Let’s meet at Shakhnovich’s.”
And that, perhaps, is how cities remember.
