People of the Revolution and the USSR
Soviet Union state institutions
Citizenship: Soviet Union
People of the Stalin era 1929–1953
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- Alexei Nikolayevich Krylov Алексей Николаевич Крылов Father of Soviet shipbuilding science who translated Newton's Principia into Russian
- Vladimir Leontyevich Komarov Владимир Леонтьевич Комаров The botanist who led the Soviet Academy of Sciences through the Stalin years
- Augusts Kirhenšteins Augusts Kirhenšteins Microbiologist who headed the puppet government chosen by the Soviet embassy in 1940 and requested Latvia’s incorporation into the USSR
- Vladimir Petrovich Potemkin Владимир Петрович Потёмкин The diplomat who pronounced Poland dead, then became education commissar
- Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin Михаил Иванович Калинин The long-serving formal head of state
- Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko Николай Нилович Бурденко Founder of Soviet neurosurgery and Chief Surgeon of the Red Army
- Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov Максим Максимович Литвинов The diplomat of collective security, removed in 1939
- Stanislav Gustavovich Strumilin Станислав Густавович Струмилин The economist who designed socialism in numbers
- Evgeny Samuilovich Varga Varga Jenő The Marxist economist who predicted the Great Depression, and was punished for arguing capitalism could adapt
- Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev Дмитрий Михайлович Карбышев The Soviet Union's greatest fortification scientist, who chose martyrdom at Mauthausen over collaboration with the Nazis
- Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov Василий Алексеевич Дегтярёв Founder of Soviet firearms design, creator of the DP-27, DShK, and PTRD
- Abram Fyodorovich Ioffe Абрам Фёдорович Иоффе The 'Papa Ioffe' who reared all of Soviet physics
- Abram Moiseyevich Deborin Абрам Моисеевич Деборин Founder of Soviet Marxist philosophy, condemned as 'Menshevizing idealism'
- Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov Климент Ефремович Ворошилов Stalin’s marshal, sustained by loyalty more than command
- Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov Борис Михайлович Шапошников The only officer Stalin addressed by name and patronymic, author of The Brain of the Army
- Boris Dmitriyevich Grekov Борис Дмитриевич Греков Founder of Soviet medieval studies; established the feudal interpretation of Kievan Rus
- Alexander Antonovich Troyanovsky Александр Антонович Трояновский From tsarist artillery officer to Stalin's first ambassador to Washington: a Russian nobleman who crossed revolution and diplomacy
- Terenty Dmitriyevich Deribas Терентий Дмитриевич Дерибас The security viceroy of the Far East
- Alexander Ilyich Yegorov Александр Ильич Егоров The Southern Front commander who broke Denikin: the last of the first five marshals whose name was erased
- Aleksei Yegorovich Badayev Алексей Егорович Бадаев Official publisher of Pravda who rose from Duma deputy to nominal head of the Russian republic
- Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky Андрей Януарьевич Вышинский Stalin's Moscow-trial prosecutor who later carried hardline Soviet diplomacy to the UN
- Ivan Pavlovich Bardin Иван Павлович Бардин Father of Soviet ferrous metallurgy who built Kuznetsk
- Naftaly Aronovich Frenkel Нафталий Аронович Френкель From prisoner to directorate chief, and dead in his own bed
- Grigory Alexandrovich Feldman Григорий Александрович Фельдман The Gosplan mathematical economist who first formalized the capital-goods-led growth model
- Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky Иван Михайлович Майский From Menshevik to Soviet envoy to the British Empire: a convert and survivor who stood at the center of world-war diplomacy
- Yefim Afanasievich Shchadenko Ефим Афанасьевич Щаденко From 1st Cavalry Army commissar to the purge's personnel executioner
- Grigory Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze Григорий Константинович (Серго) Орджоникидзе Commander of the industrial front: he pulled the trigger himself
- Boris Zakharovich Shumyatsky Борис Захарович Шумяцкий The revolutionary who built Soviet cinema's golden age and dreamed of a Soviet Hollywood
- Jānis Ernestovich Rudzutaks Ян Эрнестович Рудзутак Latvian Bolshevik who denounced NKVD case fabrication in court
- Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov Николай Иванович Вавилов The geneticist who built the world's largest seed bank and stood against Lysenko
- Sydir Artemovych Kovpak Сидор Артемьевич Ковпак The Soviet Union's greatest partisan commander, who raided all the way to the Carpathians
- Valerian Vladimirovich Kuibyshev Валериан Владимирович Куйбышев Planning official of the first Five-Year Plans
- Ivan Alekseyevich Akulov Иван Алексеевич Акулов Founder of the Soviet Procuracy, caught between state security and socialist legality
- Moisei Iosifovich Kalmanovich Моисей Иосифович Калманович Revolutionary-turned-banker who led Gosbank through collectivization
- Mikhail Moiseyevich Kaganovich Михаил Моисеевич Каганович Builder of Soviet defence industry in the shadow of his brother Lazar
- Ivan Terentyevich Golyakov Иван Терентьевич Голяков Chairman of the USSR Supreme Court through the Great Terror and war
- Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik Николай Михайлович Шверник Formal head of state in late Stalinism
- Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev Андрей Николаевич Туполев "Ugly planes don't fly." The father of Soviet metal aviation.
- Moisei Lvovich Rukhimovich Моисей Львович Рухимович The industrial builder Lenin trusted; first People's Commissar for Defence Industry
- Lazar Iosifovich Kogan Лазарь Иосифович Коган The Gulag's first chief and builder of Belomor
- Mikhail Ivanovich Ryzhov Михаил Иванович Рыжов Yezhov’s intimate who rose to deputy commissar and died under interrogation
- Lev Nikolayevich Belsky Лев Николаевич Бельский The deputy commissar who ran the Soviet police
- Vasily Vasilievich Ulrikh Василий Васильевич Ульрих Presiding judge of the Moscow show trials, Stalin's 'judicial guillotine'
- Lev Zakharovich Mekhlis Лев Захарович Мехлис From Stalin's personal secretary to the Red Army's purge enforcer, nicknamed 'the Inquisitor of the Red Army'
- Yuvelian Davidovich Sumbatov-Topuridze Ювельян Давидович Сумбатов-Топуридзе Azerbaijan's people's commissar of internal affairs in the mass operations, arrested in the Beria case
- Boris Mironovich Feldman Борис Миронович Фельдман One of the eight Tukhachevsky-trial defendants; his confession under torture started the chain reaction that consumed the Red Army
- Daniil Yegorovich Sulimov Даниил Егорович Сулимов Worker-Bolshevik premier of the Russian Republic destroyed by the state he helped industrialize
- Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher Василий Константинович Блюхер “Order of the Red Banner No. 1”: Civil War hero and one of the first five marshals, extinguished in Lefortovo
- Robert Indrikovich Eikhe Роберт Индрикович Эйхе Architect of terror in Siberia, recanted his confession under torture
- Johannes Vares Johannes Vares Poet and doctor whom Zhdanov forced on Estonia as puppet prime minister in June 1940, and who led the petition to join the Soviet Union