Korotchenko, Demian

Korotchenko, Demian [Коротченко, Дем’ян; Korotčenko, Demjan], b 10 November 1894 in Pohrebky, Hlukhiv county, Chernihiv gubernia, d 7 April 1969 in Kyiv. Soviet state and party official. He worked as a party functionary in the Ukrainian SSR (1924–8) and the RSFSR (1931–7) before becoming chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (1938–9), secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (1939–47), chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR (1947–54), and president of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR (1954–69). He was also a member of the Presidium and Politburo of the CC CP(B)U from 1938, vice-president of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1954, and member (1952–3) and candidate member (1957–61) of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]