Lieutenant-General Avraami Pavlovich Zavenyagin (1 May 1901,

Uzlovaya Uzlovaya (russian: Узлова́я) is a town and the administrative center of Uzlovsky District in Tula Oblast, Russia. Population: History It was founded in 1873 as Khrushchyovskaya () railway station. It was renamed Uzlovaya in 1877 and gr ...

– 31 December 1956; his first name is also sometimes given as Avram or Abraham) was a leading figure in the Soviet nuclear projects of the 1940s and 1950s. Richard Lee Miller, Under the cloud: the decades of nuclear testing, 1986 George A. Lopez and Nancy J. Myers, Peace and security: the next generation, 1997 John Scott, Behind the Urals: an American worker in Russia's City of Steel, 1942 Zavenyagin was made plant director of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works in August 1933 and served in that capacity until 1936 when he was appointed the assistant to the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry. A protégé of

Lavrenti Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

, Zavenyagin survived the purge after the death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

because of a long friendship with

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, which dated back to the 1920s. During the Khrushchev era, he headed the

Ministry of Medium Machine Building The Ministry of Medium Machine-Building Industry of the USSR (russian: Министерство среднего машиностроения СССР - Минсредмаш СССР, МСМ СССР) was the government ministry of the Soviet Unio ...

, responsible for nuclear weapons production, for two years. He died of a heart attack in 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavenyagin, Avraami Pavlovich 1901 births 1956 deaths People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Stalin Prize winners Heroes of Socialist Labour Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis Commissars 3rd Class of State Security National University of Science and Technology MISiS alumni Academic staff of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS Soviet lieutenant generals