Ivan Ivanovich Meshlauk

Ivan Meshlauk

Iwan Iwanowitsch Meschlauk ( Russian Иван Иванович Межлаук ; born September 30, 1891 in Kharkov ; † April 26, 1938 ) was a Soviet politician and the first general secretary of the Turkmen SSR .

biography

Meshlauk came from a noble family who originally came from Livonia . The father was a teacher and of Latvian descent, his mother was of German descent. His brother was Valeri Meschlauk (1893-1938), who was later also politically active and from 1934 to 1937 chairman of the Gosplan planning commission .

Meshlauk began studying at the Faculty of Philology and History at the University of Kharkov in 1912, and in 1916 he switched to the Faculty of Law. In 1918 he became a member of the Communist Party , in whose hierarchy he rose rapidly. In 1919 he finally joined the Red Army . From 1921 to 1923 he headed a metal works - combine in Jenakijewo near Donetsk . From 1923 to 1924 he was responsible for organizing the cotton industry in Soviet Central Asia. From 1924 to 1926 he was Secretary General of the newly founded Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . His successor was Shajmardan Ibragimow . From 1926 to 1930 he was active in the Central Committee of the CPSU, then in the Regional Committee of Tambov . He was then a member of the Council of People's Commissars until 1937.

In the course of the great purge initiated by Stalin , his brother, the Gosplan chairman, and his wife were arrested on December 1, 1937, and he himself was arrested a day later. Both were accused had contacts with the German government and sentenced to death , and in April 1938 shot dead as thousands of other Communists of the first hour. In 1956 both brothers were rehabilitated .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Worldstatesmen.org - Turkmenistan
2. ↑ «Из истории гражданской войны в СССР.Сборник документов и материалов», Moscow, 1960.