Konstantin Fyodorovich Chelpan (; 27 May 1899 – 10 March 1938) was a prominent Soviet engineer of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

background. Head of the Engineering Design Bureau of the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory, chief designer of the

T-34 tank The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

engine. Awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

, he was politically repressed and executed under a mass persecution ordered by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, but politically rehabilitated after death.

Early life and education

Born on 27 May 1899 in Cherdakly,

Yekaterinoslav Governorate Yekaterinoslav Governorate} was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yekaterinoslav. Covering an area of , and being composed of a inhabitant of 2,113,674 by the census of 1897, it bordere ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now Kremenivka,

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), to Fyodor Myhailovich Chelpan and Elizaveta Khalangot. Both parents were Greeks. After graduating from Mariupol

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

in 1919, took part in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. In 1924, he graduated with honors from Kharkiv Technological Institute with a major in internal combustion engines.

Career

From 1924 to 1937 Chelpan worked at the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory as a Designer, Head of the Diesel Department, Lead Designer, and Head of the Engineering Design Bureau. In 1928–1929 he received practical training in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK. Konstantin Chelpan was the head designer of the famous

diesel engine V-2, for which he was awarded the

. The engine consisted of lightweight aluminum alloy. From 1927, he was a senior lecturer at Kharkiv Technological Institute.

Arrest and death

Konstantin Chelpan was arrested on 15 December 1937 during the first days of the Greek Operation of NKVD. He was charged with leading a Greek nationalist counter-revolutionary organization, as well as conspiring to sabotage the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory. After being interrogated and tortured, he confessed to being a spy. On 4 February 1938, he was sentenced to

execution by shooting Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment in which a person is shot to death by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particular ...

. The sentence was carried out in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

prison on 10 March 1938 and covered up. In a few years his wife received a death certificate, indicating that Konstantin Chelpan died on 16 May 1942 from

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF typically pr ...

. On 6 August 1956, Konstantin Chelpan was rehabilitated by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR. However, only in 1988 was his true cause of death revealed.

Commemoration

* In 1994 one of the streets in the village of Cherdakly was named after Konstantin Chelpan. * In 2000 a book entitled ''Life story of famous Ukrainian Greeks. The case of Konstantin Chelpan'' by G. Zakharova was published. * In 2001 a

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

was placed on the house, where Konstantin Chelpan had spent his last years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelpan, Konstantin 1899 births 1938 deaths People from Donetsk Oblast Recipients of the Order of Lenin Soviet engineers 20th-century Russian engineers Soviet inventors 20th-century Russian scientists Great Purge victims from Ukraine Greek people executed by the Soviet Union Ukrainian people of Greek descent Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute alumni Soviet people of Greek descent Soviet rehabilitations People of the Russian Civil War