Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee and one of the six executed in the Leningrad Affair
On 13 August 1949, Lazutin was summoned with other Leningrad leaders to Georgy Malenkov's office and arrested on the spot.
Born into a working-class family in Petropavlovsk, in present-day Kazakhstan, he began working as a railway fitter at fourteen. After rising through the Komsomol in Kazakhstan, he was transferred to Leningrad in 1937, and during the siege he served as city party secretary for trade and industry, responsible for keeping the city supplied. As chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee (effectively mayor) from 1946 to 1949, he oversaw the post-war reconstruction plan, the resumption of television broadcasting, and the dedication of the cruiser Aurora as a permanent memorial. Arrested in August 1949 in Georgy Malenkov's office alongside other Leningrad leaders, he was one of the six chief defendants in the fabricated Leningrad Affair, sentenced to death on 30 September 1950 and shot the following day.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1919–1925Railway fitter in Petropavlovsk
- 1925–1931Komsomol secretary and labour department head, Kazakh ASSR
- 1931–1937Studied at Leningrad Refrigeration Institute; instructor, Frunze District Party Committee
- 1937–1941Head of trade department, then deputy head of food industry and trade, Leningrad City Committee
- 1941–1944Secretary for trade and industry, Leningrad City Committee, responsible for supply during the siege
- 1944–1946First Deputy Chairman, Leningrad City Executive Committee
- 1946–1949Chairman of Leningrad City Executive Committee (effectively mayor)
- 1949–1950Leningrad Affair: arrested 13 Aug 1949, sentenced to death 30 Sep 1950, executed 1 Oct; rehabilitated 1954
Related historical events
- 1941–1944Siege of LeningradLeningrad supply officialDuring the siege, he was the city party secretary for trade and industry, responsible for keeping Leningrad supplied.
- 1949–1950The Leningrad AffairLead defendantChairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, one of the six sentenced to death on 30 September 1950 and shot on 1 October.
Supply and defense in besieged Leningrad
From 1941, Pyotr Lazutin served as the Leningrad city party committee secretary responsible for trade and industry and took part in organizing the besieged city's supply and defense. The St Petersburg Encyclopedia identifies him as one of the organizers of Leningrad's defense in 1941–44 and records his wartime post in the city party committee. The role points to the procurement and distribution of essential goods for troops and civilians as central tasks of wartime urban administration. After the war, he became chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in April 1946. A later study describes the wartime and siege experience as a test of this generation of Leningrad officials, who then led the forced postwar reconstruction of the economy, placing Lazutin's supply work in an important phase of his career.