Sergey Yakovlevich Zhuk (Russian: Сергей Яковлевич Жук; April 4, 1892 – March 1, 1957) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

hydraulic engineer, technician and state official.

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

(1952).

Biography

Early life

Zhuk was born in to a middle class

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

family in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. He attended the 2nd Kyiv high school and after the death of his father he was enrolled in the Orlovsk Cadet Corps. In 1914 he enrolled in the Petrograd Institute for Civil Engineers, a year later he moved to the State University of Transportation in St. Petersburg. Due to the great losses that the Russian army suffered in fighting with German troops, Zhuk was forcibly drafted and transferred to the Alekseevsk School for Pioneers in Kyiv, whose training he completed in November 1916. He then did military service in a pioneer battalion in Siberia. During the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

he took the side of the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

and fought for the forces under

Alexander Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (russian: link=no, Александр Васильевич Колчак; – 7 February 1920) was an Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought ...

. At the end of 1919, during the defeat of the army Kolchak, second lieutenant Zhuk was taken prisoner but was later released. In 1921-1922 he worked in Sevzapvod, then was enrolled in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and taught engineering at the Kamenev United military school, in the Sumy artillery and in the Poltava infantry schools.

State engineer

On January 10, 1931, he was arrested by the organs of the

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...

in the "Vesna" case and was accused of involvement in a counter-revolutionary officer organization and was convicted by the judicial board of the OGPU. He was sent to the construction of the

White Sea-Baltic Canal White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and showed himself there as an engineer and on July 14, 1932, was released on parole "for more efficient use in construction." In October 1932 he was enrolled in the staff of the OGPU and was appointed to the post of deputy chief engineer of Belomorstroy. From 1933 he was Deputy Chief Engineer and Chief Engineer for the construction of the Moscow Canal. In the position of Deputy Chief Engineer of Belomorostroi, he carried out scientific and technical leadership in the design of the largest hydraulic structures. In August 1933 he was awarded the Order of Lenin. People were not spared on construction, the main thing for the leadership was the fulfillment of the plan. In the book ''

The Gulag Archipelago ''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' (russian: Архипелаг ГУЛАГ, ''Arkhipelag GULAG'') is a three-volume non-fiction text written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aleksandr So ...

'', Alexander Solzhenitsyn named Zhuk among the main culprits of the mass death of Gulag prisoners during the construction of the canal. From September 1935 he was the Chief Construction Engineer of the Uglich, Rybinsk and Ivankovskaya Hydroelectric Power Plants. From June 1939 he was First Deputy Head of the Construction Directorate of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric complex. From September 1939 Zhuk became chief engineer and first deputy chief of the Glavgidrostroy of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

of the USSR.

World War II and later life

Zhuk was a participant in the Second World War, in August 1941, he was appointed chief engineer and deputy head of the Main Directorate of Defense Work (GUOBR) of the NKVD. At the same time, in November 1941, he was the head of the hydrotechnical works department of the Glavpromstroy of the NKVD. In 1942 he became a member of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. From 1942 to 1957 he was the permanent head of the design and survey department of hydraulic works (Gidroproekt) of the Glavpromstroy NKVD of the USSR and oater Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. From 1944, he was also a member of the Technical and Economic Council of the USSR State Planning Committee. At the same time, since March 1948, he was the chief engineer of the Volgodonstroy of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and was responsible for the constructionVolga-Don Canal and Tsimlyanskaya Hydroelectric Power Station. Zhuk was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet since 1935 and was elected an Academician of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

since 1953. He was a Major General of the Engineering and Technical Service since 1943. After his death on March 1, 1957, he was cremated, the ashes were placed in an urn in the

Kremlin Wall The Moscow Kremlin Wall is a defensive wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin, recognisable by the characteristic notches and its Kremlin towers. The original walls were likely a simple wooden fence with guard towers built in 1156. The Kremlin w ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

in Moscow.

Awards and honors

(9/19/1952) – for particularly outstanding services in the construction of the Lenin Volga-Don Canal * Three

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

– for ensuring high-quality design work on the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal *

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

(01/30/1951) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

(07/14/1944) * Two Orders of the Red Star (07/14/1937; 12/10/1945) *

Medal "For Battle Merit" The Medal "For Battle Merit" (russian: Медаль «За боевые заслуги») was a Soviet military medal awarded for " combat action resulting in a military success", "courageous defense of the state borders", or "successful military ...

Medal "For Labour Valour" The Medal "For Labour Valour" (russian: Медаль «За трудовую доблесть») was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union bestowed to especially deserving workers to recognise and honour dedicated and valorous labour or ...

(04/26/1940) * Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." (1945) *

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

of the second degree (1950) – for the development of the Volga-Don Canal project. * Stalin Prize of the first degree (1951) – for the development of the design assignment for the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station on the Volga. * Honored Worker of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (11/2/1948)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhuk, Sergey 1892 births 1957 deaths Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Fourth convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Heroes of Socialist Labour Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Gulag governors NKVD officers Soviet rehabilitations Hydraulic engineers Russian engineers Soviet engineers Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis