Sergei Aleksandrovich Borzenko

Born June 19 (July 2), 1909, in Kharkov. Soviet Russian writer and journalist. Member of the CPSU from 1942.

Borzenko graduated from the Kharkov Electrotechnical Institute. In the 1930’s his essays and stories appeared in newspapers. His first book of stories was Birth of a Communist (1933, in Ukrainian). From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he served in the army press; since 1944 he has been a special correspondent of Pravda. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (1943) for his participation in forcing the Kerch Strait. The principal theme of Borzenko’s works is Soviet man in war. This theme appears in his collections of essays and stories Landing in the Crimea (1944) and Life in War (1958); in the novel Quenching Thirst (1949); and in the novella Obeying the Laws of the Fatherland (1950). He also published a series of essays about the fighters in Korea— Korea in the Fire (1951), The Courage of Korea (1953)—and the novel What a Scope! (books 1–2, 1958–63), about the October Revolution and the establishment of a new life in the Ukraine. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, seven other orders, and also medals.