Vasily Kozlov (politician)
Vasily Kozlov | |
---|---|
Васіль Казлоў | |
![]() Kozlov, c. 1940s | |
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR | |
In office 12 March 1947 – 17 March 1948 | |
First Secretary | Nikolai Gusarov |
Preceded by | Nadezhda Grekova |
Succeeded by | Yevgeny Bugayev |
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus | |
In office 18 March 1948 – 2 December 1967 | |
Preceded by | Nikifor Natalevich |
Succeeded by | Sergei Prizky |
Personal details | |
Born | Zagorodnie, Russian Empire (now Zhlobin District, Belarus) | 18 February 1903
Died | 2 December 1967 Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union (now Belarus) | (aged 64)
Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1927–1967) |
Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | |
Years of service | 1925–1927, 1941–1944 |
Rank | Major general |
Commands | Minsk partisans |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Vasil Ivanovich Kozlov (Belarusian: Васіль Іванавіч Казлоў, romanized: Vasil Ivanavič Kazloŭ; Russian: Василий Иванович Козлов; 18 February 1903 – 2 December 1967) was a Soviet Belarusian partisan and politician. Hero of the Soviet Union (1942).
Early life
[edit]Kozlov was born into a peasant family in the small village of Zagorodnie. In 1919, he began working as mechanic in the nearby town of Zhlobin. He was conscripted for a two-year mandatory service in the Red Army in 1925, and joined the All-Union Communist Party in 1927.[1] Kozlov attended the Minsk University between 1929 and 1933. After graduation, he served as a Kolkhoz party organizer for a year. During 1934, Kozlov was appointed director of the Starobin Machine and Tractor Station, located in the Salihorsk Raion. In 1937, he was posted as the First Secretary of the Communist Party's regional branch in Starobin. A year afterwards, he became the Party's First Secretary in the Chervyen Raion.[2] In 1940, he was promoted to the deputy chairman of the Byelorussian SSR's Council of People's Commissars. In April 1941, Kozlov was given the office of the Second Secretary in the Minsk Region's Communist Party branch.[3]
World War II
[edit]Minsk was occupied by the invading Germans on 26 June 1941. Kozlov remained behind the enemy's lines and was appointed chief of the Voblast's underground Communist Party in July. He was tasked with organizing resistance activities, and led the Minsk partisans until the end of the German occupation.[4][5] By mid-1942, he commanded a force that consisted of some 50,000 members. In September, he traveled to Moscow to report on the situation in Belarus. There, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 1 September 1942.[6] As commander of one of the occupied republic's largest partisan detachments, he was given the rank of a Major General on 16 September 1943.[7] In July 1944, the Red Army liberated Minsk. Kozlov remained the chairman of the Minsk Voblast's Communist Party regional committee, an office he held for four further years.[8]
Post-war
[edit]On 12 March 1947, Kozlov was elected as the Chairman of Belarus' Supreme Soviet, functioning as such until 17 March 1948. Then, he became the Chief of the Supreme Belorussian Soviet's Presidium.[9] He continued to serve in this post until his death.[10] In addition, he was a candidate member of the Communist Party of the USSR's Central Committee during its 20th, 21st and 22nd convocations, from 25 February 1956 to 29 March 1966. On 8 April 1966, shortly before his death, he was accepted as a full member.[11] Kozlov is buried in Minsk's Eastern Cemetery.[12]
Honours and awards
[edit]- Hero of the Soviet Union
- Order of Lenin, five times (incl. 1942)
- Order of the Red Banner (1953)
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour
- Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, twice
References
[edit]- ^ Vasily Kozlov on academic.ru.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov on hrono.ru.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov on az-libr.ru.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov on 1941-1945.ru.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov's obituary in Pravda.
- ^ Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР «О присвоении звания Героя Советского Союза партизанам, особо отличившимся в партизанской борьбе в тылу против немецких захватчиков» от 1 сентября 1942 года // Ведомости Верховного Совета Союза Советских Социалистических Республик : газета. — 1942. — 10 сентября (№ 37 (196)). — С. 1.
- ^ "Vasily Kozlov's biography on narb.by". Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- ^ "Vasily Kozlov on soligorsk.com". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov's biography on j-r.ru.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov on the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
- ^ A summary of Kozlov's career.
- ^ Vasily Kozlov's biography on the Gomel heritage center.
External links
[edit]- Vasily Kozlov on the Heroes of the Soviet Union's register.
- 1903 births
- 1967 deaths
- People from Zhlobin District
- Candidates of the Central Committee of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Candidates of the Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Members of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Heads of state of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
- Second convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Third convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Fourth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
- Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1947–1950)
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1951–1954)
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1955–1959)
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1959–1962)
- Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (1962–1966)
- Heroes of the Soviet Union
- Recipients of the Order of Lenin
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
- Belarusian partisans
- Soviet major generals
- Soviet military personnel of World War II
- Soviet partisans