Polina Semyonovna Shemchushina

Shemchushina tombstone in the Novodevichy cemetery next to her husband's grave

Polina Zhemchuzhina ( Russian Полина Семёновна Жемчужина , originally Перл Семёновна Карповская / Perl Semyonovna Karpowskaja * February 27 ^jul. / 11. March  1897 ^greg. In Pologi ; † 1. April 1970 in Moscow ) was a Soviet politician and the wife of Vyacheslav Molotov .

Perl Karpovskaya was born into the family of a Jewish tailor. From 1910 she worked in Yekaterinoslav in a cigarette factory, from 1917 as a cashier in a pharmacy. In 1918 she joined the Red Army , where she organized a political club. In 1919 she worked underground in Kiev. A year later, in Kharkov , she took the name Polina Semyonovna Shemchushina .

In 1921 she married Vyacheslav Molotov and thus ended up in the circle around Stalin , with whose second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva she became friends. From 1923 she studied at workers' faculties , in 1926 she completed an economics degree in Moscow. From 1927 she held various positions in industry, in 1936 she became a senior employee of the Food Ministry of the Soviet Union, in November 1937 its deputy director. From January to November 1939 she was People's Commissar (i.e. Minister) for the fishing industry. From March 1939 she was a candidate, from February 1942 a member of the Central Committee.

During the Second World War she was a leading member of the Jewish Antifascist Committee , after its dissolution in 1948 she was again assigned to the Ministry of Industry. At that time she drew Stalin's disfavor, which is attributed to three incidents, namely her participation in a ceremony in the Moscow synagogue in 1945, her presence at the funeral service for the Jewish actor Solomon Michoels (murdered on Stalin's orders) and herself Meeting with the first Israeli ambassador to the Soviet Union, Golda Meir , with whom she spoke in Yiddish. Polina Shemchushina was arrested on January 29, 1949, charged with continued contact with Jewish nationalists, and sentenced on December 29, 1949 to five years' exile in Kustanai . Her husband was replaced as Foreign Minister in March 1949 and lost much of his influence. In January 1953 she was arrested at the place of exile and taken to Moscow - apparently with the aim of preparing another trial. After Stalin's death, she was released and rehabilitated in March 1953. She lived in Moscow until her death.

Web links

• Perl Semjonovna Karpovskaya - Polina Shemchushina (Russian)