Stepan Pavlovich Birman ( Istvan Birmann , Hungarian. Biermann István ; 07/11/1891 - 08/16/1937) - Hungarian socialist, head of the USSR metallurgical industry in the 1920s and 30s, and director of the Dnepropetrovsk metallurgical plant in 1932-37.
Biography
Born in Vienna in a poor large Jewish family. After graduating in 1908 from a commercial school (academy) in Budapest, he worked at the Agrarian Bank. In 1912 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Hungary . During the First World War from March 1915 to 1918 - on the Russian and Italian fronts in the existing Austro-Hungarian army. He was among the supporters of the development of independent democracy in Hungary (1918-1919). An activist of the national banking system of Hungary. During the Hungarian Soviet Republic - Chairman of the Budapest Central Workers' and Soldiers Council. In the years 1919-22 - a prisoner of the prison. March 22, 1922 moved to Moscow thanks to the exchange of political prisoners of Hungary for prisoners of war of the former Austro-Hungary in Russia.
From 1923, he was an economist of the Glavmetal Trust of the USSR, from 1926 he was deputy chairman of the board of the Yugostal trust (the main metallurgical base of the USSR), and since 1927 he was chairman of this trust. A supporter of the principles of commodity-money, market development of the USSR, introduced cost accounting methods at enterprises of the Yugostal trust . Opponent of the Shakhty affair .
Since October 1929 - head of the planning and economic department of the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNH) of the USSR, deputy. Chairman of the All-Union Construction Association of the 2nd metallurgical base of the country beyond the Urals ( Magnitogorsk and Kuznetsk metallurgical plants). He demonstrated disagreement with the methods and construction plans, which were characterized by cruelty and immorality. In the spring of 1930, he was relieved of this post and left the head of the department of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR. From December 1, 1932 to August 16, 1937 - Director of the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Plant. G. Petrovsky . Under his leadership, the plant became one of the largest enterprises of ferrous metallurgy in the USSR.
In the mid-1930s, Birman did not agree with the intensification of political terror in the USSR ; he opposed the artificial and mass identification of “enemies of the people” and physical reprisals against them. On August 8, 1937, he was taken to Moscow, where a few days later he suddenly died in the Kremlin hospital at the age of 46. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
Literature
- M.S. Derzhalyuk. BIRMAN Istvan // Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine : at 10 t.: [ Ukrainian ] / editorial: V. A. Smoliy (head) and ін. ; Institute of History of Ukraine NAS of Ukraine . - K .: Naukova Dumka , 2003 .-- T. 1: A - B. - 688 p. : il. - ISBN 966-00-0734-5 .
When writing this article, the material used was the article " BІRMAN Іштван " (author M. S. Derzhalyuk) from the publication " Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine ", available under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 Unported license .