Timofei Amvrosievich Strokach
Strokach, Timofei Amvrosievich
Born Mar. 4, 1903, in the village of Belotserkovitsy, now Astrakhanka, Khanka Raion, Primor’e Krai; died Aug. 15; 1963, in Kiev. Soviet state figure. An organizer and leader of the partisan movement in the Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45; lieutenant general (1944). Member of the CPSU from 1927.
Strokach was born into a peasant family. From 1919 to 1922 he took part in the partisan movement in the Far East, and in 1923 he began serving with Soviet border troops. In March 1941 he became deputy people’s commissar of internal affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. In June 1941 he assumed command of the formation of assault battalions and partisan detachments in the Ukraine. He also took part in the defense of Kiev and Moscow. From 1942 to 1945 he was chief of staff of the Ukrainian partisan movement. In 1945–46, Strokach was deputy people’s commissar and from 1946 to 1956 minister of internal affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. Beginning in 1956, he served in a responsible capacity in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
A member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukraine from 1938 to 1959, Strokach was a deputy to the first through fourth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was retired on a pension in 1957. Strokach was awarded three Orders of Lenin, seven other orders, and various medals.