Yan Gamarnik (birth name Jakov Tzudikovich Gamarnik ()), sometimes known as Yakov Gamarnik (; – 31 May 1937), was the Chief of the

Political Department of the Red Army The Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy () was the central military-political organ of administration in the Soviet Armed Forces in 1919 through 1991 and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The director ...

from 1930 to 1937, Deputy Commissar of Defense 1930—1934 and First Secretary of the

Communist Party of Byelorussia Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, ...

1928–1930.

Biography

Gamarnik was born in

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family as Jakov Tzudikovich Gamarnik. He attended the St Petersburg Psychoneurological Institute and the Law School of

Kyiv University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

. In 1917 he became a member and the secretary of the Kyiv Committee of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. From 1921 to 1923 Gamarnik was a chairman of the Kyiv city council (see

Mayor of Kyiv The Head of Kyiv City (), unofficially and more commonly the Mayor of Kyiv (), is a city official elected by popular vote who serves as a head of the Kyiv city state administration (the capital of Ukraine) and a chairperson the Kyiv City Counc ...

). During his administration, Kyiv was divided into five districts. He went through many Communist Party positions, both civil and military, e.g. a First Secretary of the

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian

Communist Party of Belorussia Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, distrib ...

from December 1928 to October 1929.Belarus
/ref> He was instrumental in preparing the 10-year development plan for the Far-Eastern region of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He was a member of the

Central Committee elected by the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) The Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) sat from 10 February 1934 until the convening of the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), 18th Congress on 10 March 1939. Its 1st Plen ...

. He attended the Plenum of 23 February 1937. An idealist, Gamarnik was a staunch supporter of Marshal

Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937), nicknamed the Red Napoleon, was a Soviet general who was prominen ...

's drive to make USSR a military

superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...

. In 1937 Gamarnik was accused of participating in an anti-Soviet conspiracy after the

Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization The Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization, also known as the Military Case or the Tukhachevsky Case, was a 1937 secret trial of the high command of the Red Army, a part of the Great Purge. Defendants The Case was a secret ...

. The Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party ordered the decision "to remove Comrades Gamarnik and Aronshtam from their work in the People's Commissariat of Defense and to exclude them from the Military Council, as workers who were in close group ties with Yakir, who has now been expelled from the party for participation in a military-fascist conspiracy." The next day, on May 31, 1937, head of the Directorate for the Command Staff of the Red Army On May 30, 1937, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) made a decision: "To remove Comrades Gamarnik and Aronshtam from their work in the People's Commissariat of Defense and to exclude them from the Military Council, as workers who were in close group ties with Yakir, who has now been expelled from the party for participation in a military-fascist conspiracy." On May 31, 1937, I.V. Smorodinov and A.S. Bulin of the People's Commissariat of Defense informed Gamarnik about the decisions of the Politburo, and told him that had he was dismissed from the ranks of the Red Army. Immediately after their departure, Gamarnik shot himself on the eve of his inevitable arrest. Another explanation of his death is that Garmanik insisted on the innocence of General

Mikhail Tukhachevsky Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Тухачевский, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevskiy, p=tʊxɐˈtɕefskʲɪj; – 12 June 1937), nicknamed the Red Napoleon, was a Soviet general who was prominen ...

's on separate charges "and was soon killed by Stalin's men." Only after this was he added to the list of conspirators. He was rehabilitated posthumously by the CC CPSU and

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

in 1955.

Family

Gamarnik's sister, Klaudia (born 1905) left school at 14, joined

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

in Kyiv in 1921, joined the communist party in 1927, and was working in the prosecutor's office in Moscow when she was expelled from the party on 13 June 1937, arrested on 13 August, and sentenced to eight years in labour camps. Her husband, Andrei Bogomolov, (1902–38), a secretary of the Moscow party committee, was arrested on 17 August 1937, sentenced to death on 25 April 1938, and shot the same day. They had two children, who were aged eight and two in 1937. In 1953, she appealed to have her criminal record removed, but the appeal was turned down on the grounds that she had consorted with 'enemies of the people', including her husband.

Honours and awards

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 ...

(22 February 1933) *

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

(20 February 1928) * The town Suchan was named ''Gamarnik'' in his honour (1932–1937)

References

Sources

* Robert Conquest, ''

The Great Terror The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolae ...

: A Reassessment'', Oxford University Press, May 1990, hardcover, pp 201–202;
Several versions of Gamarnik biography

Profile
at

Handbook on the history of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union 1898 – 1991 A handbook is a type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference. The term originally applied to a small or portable book containing information useful for its owner, but the ''Oxford Eng ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamarnik, Yakov 1894 births Politicians from Zhytomyr People from Zhitomirsky Uyezd Jewish mayors Jewish Ukrainian politicians Jews from the Russian Empire Members of the Orgburo of the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Orgburo of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Candidates of the Central Committee of the 14th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) members Heads of the Communist Party of Byelorussia Chiefs of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy Mayors of Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Soviet Jews in the military Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization Soviet politicians who died by suicide Soviet rehabilitations 1937 suicides 1937 deaths