Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny

Nikolai Podgorny (1963)

Nikolai Podgorny ( Russian Николай Викторович Подгорный ., Scientific transliteration Nikolai Podgorny Viktorovič * 5 ^{. Jul} / 18th February  1903 ^greg. In Karlovka ; † 11. January 1983 in Moscow ) was a Soviet politician Ukrainian origin. From 1965 to 1977 he was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and thus head of state of the Soviet Union.

biography

Advancement in Ukraine

Podgorny studied engineering at the Technical Institute of Food Industry of the National Technical University of Ukraine in Kiev from 1923 to 1926 . In 1930 he joined the CPSU . Like Jekaterina Furzewa and Alexei Kiritschenko , the Ukrainian was initially promoted by the Ukrainian party leader (1938–1949) Nikita Khrushchev . From 1939 to 1940 he was Deputy Minister for the Food Industry in the Ukrainian SSR and from 1940 to 1942 Deputy Minister for the Food Industry in the USSR. From 1942 to 1944 he served as director of the Moscow Institute for the Food Industry. He was again Deputy Minister for the Food Industry in the Ukrainian SSR from 1944 to 1946.

After the Second World War , Podgorny held the function of permanent representative of the Ukrainian Council of Ministers to the government of the USSR in Moscow from 1946 to 1950 . But it wasn't until 1950, after Khrushchev's departure from Ukraine, that Podgorny joined the Ukrainian party apparatus and rose quickly. It was 1950 first secretary of the oblast of Kharkov , as Leonid Melnikov , an opponent of Khrushchev led the Ukrainian party. From 1953 to 1957 he was Second Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party, when Kirichenko was also party leader in Ukraine. From 1952 to 1965 he was a member of the revision commission of the CPSU. It was not until 1956 that he became a member of the Central Committee (ZK) of the CPSU. From 1957 to 1963 he was the first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine as the successor to Kirichenko. In this position he was succeeded by Pyotr Schelest . During this time, Khrushchev severely criticized Podgorny several times. B. 1960 on the occasion of the bad harvest in Ukraine, which he generally did not do with his followers.

Politburo member and head of state

In June 1958 Podgorny became a candidate for the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU . On May 4, 1960, he rose as a full member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU , the highest political body in the USSR (Politburo from 1966). He supported the de-Stalinization operated by Khrushchev , combined with the exclusion of Molotov , Malenkov and Kaganowitsch from party and office. At the XXII. At the CPSU party congress in October 1961, the Stalinist opponents were settled again, and Podgorny and JV Spiridonov (First Secretary of Leningrad) and Masurov (First Secretary of the Belarusian Communist Party) gave the keynote speeches. In questions of agriculture he defied the party leader with critical contributions. From 1963 to 1964 he was also the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU . When Nikita Khrushchev was overthrown as party leader of the CPSU, he was rather reluctant to support his successor Leonid Brezhnev . He remained in the Politburo until May 24, 1977.

On December 9, 1965, Podgorny was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and succeeded Anastas Mikojan in office, making him the head of state of the Soviet Union in the formal sense. In the power structure of the Soviet Union, however, the office ranked well behind that of the general secretary of the party (or first secretary). During this time, party leader Brezhnev, Prime Minister Kosygin and Podgorny were considered - in that order - the powerful leadership troika of the USSR. The "chief ideologist" Mikhail Suslov was to gain increasing importance and overtake Podgorny in the power structure. Between the more reformist Podgorny and the conservative Suslow there were increasingly different views, including reforms of the industry, where Suslow was able to prevail for the more military heavy industry.

Podgorny's resignation as head of state and member of the Politburo took place on May 24, 1977 after a power struggle with Brezhnev, who assumed the office of head of state in personal union with that of the general secretary of the CPSU.

Honors

Podgorny received numerous medals, was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union four times and received the Order of Lenin seven times .

literature

• Michel Tatu: Power and Powerlessness in the Kremlin , Ullstein, Frankfurt, 1967

Web links

Commons : Nikolai Podgorny  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Nikolai Wiktorowitsch Podgorny in the catalog of the German National Library
• Kurzbiographie (English)
• Nikolai Wiktorowitsch Podgorny in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

predecessor	Office	successor
Anastas Mikoyan	Head of State of the Soviet Union 1965–1977	Leonid Brezhnev