Timur Arkadyevich Gaidar (; December 8, 1926 – December 23, 1999) was a

Soviet 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 ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

, writer and journalist. He was supposed to be the inspiration for Timur from

Arkady Gaidar Arkady Petrovich Gaidar (, born Golikov, ; – 26 October 1941) was a Russian literature, Russian Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet children, and a Red Army commander.Arkady Gaidar. Biography. Timeline. Works by Arkady ...

's book ''

Timur and His Squad ''Timur and His Squad'' () is a short novel by Arkady Gaidar, written and first published in 1940. The book tells the story of a gang of village kids who sneak around secretly doing good deeds, protecting families whose fathers and husbands are i ...

'' that was the inspiration for the Timurite movement.

Early life and career

Gaidar was born in

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

, the son of well-known children's writer

and screenwriter . He graduated from the Leningrad Naval School in 1948 and the faculty of journalism of the

Lenin Military-Political Academy The V. I. Lenin Military-Political Academy (), abbreviated as VPA, was a higher military educational institution of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1919 to 1991 that provided advanced training to political workers. History The predecessor of ...

in 1954, and served on submarines of the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

and the Pacific Ocean Fleet. Beginning in 1957 he worked for newspapers, including ''

The Soviet Fleet ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', the ''

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

'', and ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

''. He fought in the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

and was a friend of Cuban General

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...

. In 1965–1971 Timur Gaidar was working in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

SFRY The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. Gaidar died in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. His widow is Ariadna Bazhova (born 1925), daughter of the Russian writer

Pavel Bazhov Pavel Petrovich Bazhov (; 27 January 1879 – 3 December 1950) was a Russian writer and publicist. Bazhov is best known for his collection of fairy tales '' The Malachite Box'', based on Ural folklore and published in the Soviet Union in 1939 ...

Yegor Gaidar Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (; rus, Егор Тимурович Гайдар, p=jɪˈɡor tʲɪˈmurəvʲɪtɕ ɡɐjˈdar; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Min ...

, a Russian politician, was their son.

Notes

References

1926 births 1999 deaths Russian admirals Russian male writers Soviet admirals Soviet journalists Russian male journalists Soviet Navy personnel People from Arkhangelsk Higher Naval School of Submarine Navigation alumni Lenin Military Political Academy alumni Soviet submariners 20th-century Russian journalists 20th-century Russian Jews {{Russia-journalist-stub