Pyotr Akimovich Dibrova

Soviet Union Soviet communism 1901–1971 ○ Died

Soviet commandant of Berlin who declared a state of emergency in East Berlin on 17 June 1953

Born into a peasant family in Poltava Governorate, he joined the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the Civil War; in 1925 he changed his birth surname Khailo to Dibrova. A political officer, he became a member of the military council of the Baltic Special Military District in 1940 and was removed from the military council of the North-Western Front after the defeats at the start of the German–Soviet war. After serving on the military councils of the 59th Army and the 2nd Shock Army on the Volkhov Front, he commanded the 145th Rifle Division in 1944 in the Vitebsk–Orsha and Riga operations until he was badly wounded. From 1952 to 1956 he was commandant of the Soviet sector of Berlin, and during the uprising of 17 June 1953 he declared a state of emergency in East Berlin. He then worked at the Frunze Military Academy, retired in 1960 and died in Moscow in 1971.