Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Alexander II (1818-1881) the Russian Emperor from 2 March 1855 until his
assassination on 13 March 1881. He initiated liberal reforms, of which the
emancipation of serfs was the most important.
Anna Akhmatova (18891966) one of the most famous Russian poets of the
20th century. She was persecuted by the Soviet authorities and not allowed to
publish for decades. Zhdanovs decree on the magazines Zvezda and Leningrad
attacked her writing as bourgeois and anti-Soviet.
Mikhail Gorbachev (born 2 March 1931) a Soviet statesman. He was the last
leader of the Soviet Union. In 198591 he was General Secretary of the
Communist Partys Central Committee and in 1990-91, the first and only
president of the Soviet Union.
Andrei Gromyko (19091989) a top Soviet official during the Cold War. In
195785 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 198588, Chairman of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
Mikhail Kalinin (18751946) a party leader and Soviet official. He was the
formal head of the Soviet state from 1919 until 1946.
Nikita Khrushchev (18941971) a top Soviet and party official. He was the
First Secretary of the party in 195364 and Chairman of the Council of
Ministers in 195864. He occupied several ministerial and top party positions
under Stalin and in that capacity he participated in Stalins purges. However, at
a closed session of the 20th party congress in 1956 he denounced Stalins cult
of personality, thus opening the door to the first wave of de-Stalinisation. In
1964 he was toppled from his position by his Politburo colleagues.
Sergei Kirov (18861934) a party and Soviet official. He was head of the
Leningrad party organisation. On 1 December 1934 he was killed by a gunman
near his office in the Smolny Palace.
Alexei Kosygin (19041980) a party and Soviet official during the Cold War.
He served as Minister of Finance, then Minister of Light Industry and then
Minister of Light and Food Industry. In 19641980 he was the Chairman of the
Council of Ministers. In 1965 he initiated the economic reform known as the
Kosygin reform, which included a partial decentralisation and liberalisation of
the management of the economy and introduced elements of cost accounting
and financial stimuli for industrial innovation and for workers.
Georgy Malenkov (19021988) a top Soviet and party official, Stalins close
associate. In 19531955 he was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Solomon Mikhoels (1890 1948) a Soviet actor and theatre director. During
World War II Mikhoels served as chairman of the Soviet Jewish Anti-Fascist
Committee. He was murdered on Stalins orders in 1948.
Anastas Mikoyan (18951978) a top Soviet and party official, Stalins close
associate. In 196465 he was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet, in 195564, the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and
in 193849 and 195355, the Peoples Commissar/Minister of Foreign Trade.
Vasily Stalin (19211962) the younger son of Joseph Stalin by his second
wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. A Lieutenant-General of the Soviet Army.
Mikhail Suslov (19021982) a Soviet and party official. From 1965 until his
death he was the Second Secretary of the CPSUs Central Committee, and,
unofficially, the partys main ideologue.
Boris Yeltsyn (1931 2007) a Soviet and Russian politician. He was the first
President of the Russian Federation (19911999).
Avel Yenukidze (18771937) a Bolshevik leader, a prominent Soviet official.
One of the first members of the Central Committee to be executed during the
Great Terror.
Nikolai Yezhov (18951940) head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938. Was
charged with treason and espionage and executed in 1940.
Andrei Zhdanov (1896 1948) a Soviet and party top official and Stalins
close associate. In 19341945 he was head of the Leningrad party organisation.
Georgy Zhukov (18961974) Marshal of the Red Army, head of the General
Staff, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Minister of Defence and a member of the
Politburo. During World War II he was the Red Army commander in many
battles, ultimately commanding the 1st Belorussian Front in the Battle of Berlin,
which resulted in the defeat of Nazi Germany, and the end of the War in
Europe.