Mykhailo Mykolayovych Poloz ( uk, Михайло Микола́йович Полоз; 23 December 1891 – 3 November 1937) was a Ukrainian and Soviet politician, diplomat, and statesman, and a participant at the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

Biography

Mykhailo Poloz was born on 23 December 1891 in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Kharkov Governorate The Kharkov Governorate ( pre-reform Russian: , tr. ''Khárkovskaya gubérniya'', IPA: �xarʲkəfskəjə ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə ) was a governorate of the Russian Empire founded in 1835. It embraced the historical region of Sloboda Ukraine. From ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

into a noble family of excise officials. Upon graduation from a

realschule ''Realschule'' () 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' ...

, Poloz studied at the Moscow City Shanyavsky National University (1910–12) and the Petrovskaya-Rozumovskaya Agricultural Academy (1912–15). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in 1915, he underwent training at a flying school and as a

praporshchik ( rus, Пра́порщик, 3=ˈprapərɕːɪk, ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in navies. It is usually equivalent to Warran ...

(warrant officer) and he fought on the

Romanian Front The Romanian Front ( ro, Frontul Românesc, FR) was a moderate fascist party created in Romania in 1935. Led by former Prime Minister Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, it originated as a right-wing splinter group from the mainstream National Peasants' Part ...

. In 1906, Poloz had become a member of the Kharkiv Student Union of Socialist-Revolutionaries and by 1908 he was arrested for the first time. In 1917 as a member of the

Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party (russian: Украинская партия социалистов-революционеров uk, Українська Партія Соціалістів-Революціонерів) was a political ...

, Poloz was elected to the

Central Council of Ukraine The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council ( soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputi ...

, he was a member of the Ukrainian Military General Committee and he took part in the peace delegation of Ukraine to the Brest-Litovsk treaty negotiations. In 1918, during the advance of Muravyov's Soviet forces, he was arrested again for collaborating with the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

and sentenced to be shot, but was rescued by Cossacks. Being a member of the UPSR's left faction after its split, Poloz joined the Ukrainian Communist Party of Borotbists as one of its leaders. During the Skoropadsky administration, Poloz worked underground preparing for the anti-Hetman uprising. In 1920, he joined the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

. With the establishment of the Soviet regime, Poloz worked in the presidium of the Ukrainian Council of National Economy and headed the administrative-financial commission at the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1921, Poloz became the plenipotentiary representative of the Ukrainian SSR in Moscow (1921–23). He thereafter headed the Gosplan of Ukraine (1923–25) and the People's Commissariat of Finance (1925–30). From 1930 to 1934, Poloz was a Deputy Chairman of the Budget Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. As an aviation specialist, Poloz laid the foundations for the development of

civil aviation in Ukraine Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

. From 24 December 1927, he headed the Ukrainian committee for the protection of natural landmarks. In that position, Poloz did much for the protection of cultural and natural landmarks. On 12 January 1934, Poloz was arrested in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

State Political Directorate The State Political Directorate (also translated as the State Political Administration) (GPU) was the intelligence service and secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) from February 6, 1922, to December 29, 192 ...

agents. An investigation was conducted at first in Moscow. The case was then transferred to

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. On 4 June 1934, Poloz was found guilty of links with the

Ukrainian Military Organization The Ukrainian Military Organization ( uk, Українська Військова Організація �ВОtranslit=Ukrayinska Viyskova Orhanisatsiya VO}), was a Ukrainian paramilitary body, engaged in terrorism (especially in Poland) during ...

(UVO) and sentenced to 10 years in the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

. On 9 October 1937, an

NKVD troika NKVD troika or Special troika (russian: особая тройка, osobaya troyka), in Soviet history, were the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD which would later be the beginning of the KGB) made up of three officials who issued ...

sentenced Poloz to

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

(''Vysshaya Mera Nakazaniya'' (VMN) in Russian). On 3 November 1937, Poloz was shot in the

Sandarmokh Sandarmokh (russian: Сандармох; krl, Sandarmoh) is a forest massif from Medvezhyegorsk in the Republic of Karelia where possibly thousands of victims of Stalin's Great Terror were executed. More than 58 nationalities were shot and bu ...

forest in the

Karelian ASSR The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( rus, Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respub ...

. On 8 March 1957, Poloz was rehabilitated.

External links

Yefimenko, H. ''Mykhailo Poloz, the co-founder of the USSR shot in Sandarmokh
"

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

".
Poloz, Mykhailo Mykolayovych

Shevchenko, S. ''Confession statements'' at the price of a life
Newspaper "2000". 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Poloz, Mykhailo 1891 births 1937 deaths Politicians from Kharkiv People from Kharkov Governorate Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party politicians Borotbists Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Ambassadors of Ukraine to Russia Directors of the State Planning Committee of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Russian military personnel of World War I Ukrainian people of World War I Russian Constituent Assembly members Great Purge victims from Ukraine People executed for collaboration with the Ukrainian National Movement Soviet rehabilitations Finance ministers of Ukraine 20th-century Ukrainian economists