Nadezhda Grekova

Nadezhda Grigoryevna Grekova (Belarusian: Надзея Рыгораўна Грэкава; September 17, 1910 - January 6, 2001), was a Soviet Belarusian politician. She was Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Belorussian SSR 1938–1949. Her office as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet nominally made her Head of the Republic. At some point she was known as the "Iron Lady".

Nadezhda Grekova
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus
In office
July 25, 1938 – March 12, 1949
Preceded byFirst office holder
Succeeded byVasily Kozlov
Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
In office
1943–1945
Secretary of CPSU in Kazan
In office
1942–1943
Deputy Minister of Food Industry of The Soviet Union
In office
1949–1952
Central Auditing Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office
1939–1952
Member of The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
In office
1951–1955
Deputy and Head of the Industrial and Transport Department of the Central Committee of The Byelorussian SSR
In office
1937–1940
3rd Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia
In office
1938–1940
Minister of Food Industry of The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
In office
1947–1955
Personal details
BornSeptember 17, 1910
Minsk
DiedJanuary 6, 2001(2001-01-06) (aged 90)
CitizenshipSoviet
NationalityBelarusian
Political partyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union
Spouse(s)Mikhail Malinin
OccupationPolitician, Factory Worker

Life

Grekova started to work in a textile factory in Minsk in 1922, at the age of twelve. In 1932, she became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was elected chairperson of the local workers union in 1933. In 1937, at the age of twenty-seven, she was elected Deputy, and then Head of the Industrial and Transport Department of the Central Committee, and 3rd Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia. She held these positions until 1940.

From July 25, 1938 until March 12, 1949, she held the post of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Belorussian SSR, one of the first women to hold such a position. She was only twenty-eight when elected to the position, making her one of the youngest female heads of state, as the position was the highest organ of state authority. This also made her Head of the Republic. The post was created after a re-organization of the system, and she was the first person elected to it. At the time, she had not yet completed her secondary education.

During the Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany, she was evacuated to Kazan. While in Kazan, she could not perform her duties as Chairman of The Supreme Soviet, but was elected as Secretary of the CPSU in Kazan in 1942–43. She was in Kazan from June 28, 1941 to July 3, 1944, and during this, while serving as Secretary of the Kazan CPSU, she was also Secretary of the Kazan City Committee of The CPSU. While there, she graduated from the Higher School of Party Organizers, under the Central Committee of the CPSU, completing her educational studies.

Nadezhda Grekova was a member of the Central Auditing Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1939–52, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1943–46. Deputy Minister of Food Industry of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic 1949–52, in addition, she was Minister of Food Industry of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. From 1946 to 1955, she was a member of the Supreme Soviet of The Soviet Union.

She was awarded two Orders of Lenin, Order of the Patriotic War, First Class, Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Badge of Honor and other medals.

In her private life, she was married to general Mikhail Malinin. It is alleged that the two of them were introduces to one another by Stalin.[1]

In 2002, a park in Minsk was named after her. As well, there is a museum dedicated to her.

References
  1. "Выстаўка "Надзея Рыгораўна Грэкава – дзяржаўны дзеяч"". Retrieved 30 July 2020.


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