MYKHAILO TYMOFIEIEV. SILHOUETTE OF A SECURITY GUARD AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THE GREAT TERROR ERA

Abstract

Among the employees of the Soviet state security agencies, who at different times worked on the territory of modern Sumy region, the figure of MykhailoTymofieiev is prominent. He played an important role in the repressive measures by the Soviet authorities on the political grounds in the North-East of Ukraine. Being the Head of the Novhorod-Siverskyi district department of the DPU, Mykhailo Tymofieiev governed the elimination of anti-Soviet armed formations led by the Atamans Vashchenko and Rubliov-Chernov. During the Holodomor, as head of the Kharkiv Regional Department of the State Political Administration, M.Tymofieiev promoted the implementation of an operational plan of eliminating insurgent groups and organizations on the territory of Sumy region. For this activity he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. The period of his being the head of the Chernihiv Regional Directorate of the NKVD of 1934-1936 was marked by repressive actions against the Trotskyist supporters. Tymofieiev’s excellent work in Chernihiv received a positive assessment by the Ukrainian SSR Internal Affairs Commissar V.A. Balitskyi. Despite his close friendship with the disgraced chief of the GPU-NKVD of Ukraine, M. Tymofieiev managed to avoid repressions by the state security agencies at the times of the Great Terror. During the years 1937-1956 M.M. Tymofieiev held high positions in the system of the Main Department of Correctional Labour Camps. Key words: MykhailoTymofieiev, NKVD, political repressions, Bilomor-Baltic canal.