Zavenyagin, Abraham Pavlovich

Born in the family of Pavel Ustinovich and Pelageya Vladimirovna Zavenyagin at Uzlovaya station. Russian ^[1] . Father worked as a locomotive driver on the railway. Mother - from the peasants. In 1912 he entered the Skopinsky real school, which he graduated in 1919. Member of the CPSU (b) since November 1917. In 1919 - 1920 - Commissioner of the political department of the Red Army division. Since 1920 at the party work in Ukraine . In 1921 - 1923 - Secretary of the Yuzovsky District Committee of the CPSU (b). From 1923 to 1930 he studied at the Moscow Mining Academy in the domain of a domain and at the same time was a vice-rector for administrative and economic issues.

The first rector of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISiS) in 1930, in 1930 - 1931, headed the Institute for Designing Metallurgical Plants (Gipromez) in Leningrad , then worked in the NKTP office, in January-August 1933 headed the metallurgical plant in Kamensky .

In 1933— 1937 - director of the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine . After a short period of work, the Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry, in 1938, Zavenyagin headed the construction of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine ( Norillag ), begun in 1935 , at which 8 thousand prisoners first worked, and by the end of 1939 — over 19 thousand. The first industrial smelting of the future NGMK took place on March 6, 1939. Zavenyagin was a supporter of the placement of the full metallurgical cycle in Norilsk, while the design of the factories limited the technological cycle to the smelting of matte . April 29, 1942 Norilsk gave the first metallic nickel .

In Norilsk, Zavenyagin established for himself and his subordinates "Zavenyagin's control laws" ^[2] :

• The first law: the maximum work in inhuman circumstances.
• The second law: salvation (including one’s own) is in non-ordinary decisions.
• The third law: youth is dignity rather than disadvantage.

From March 1941 to August 1946, Zavenyagin - Deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs , from 1946 - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs , who overtook the general management of the industrial and construction structures of the NKVD: the General Directorate of the camps of mining and metallurgical enterprises (it included the Special Metallurgical Administration, subsequently The 9th Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), the Main Directorate of Hydrostroy Camps (Glavgidrostroy), the General Directorate of Industrial Construction Camps (Glavpromstroy - the largest construction division of the SS P) Dalstroi and the like.

From July 9, 1941 — the senior major of state security , from February 14, 1943 — Commissioner of State Security of the 3rd rank , from July 9, 1945 - Lieutenant-General .

In 1945 - 1953 Zavenyagin - one of the main leaders of the Soviet atomic project (member of the Special Committee at the SNK of the USSR , first deputy head of the First Main Directorate at the SNK of the USSR , head of the Directorate of Special Institutions - reorganized Ninth Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs). Zavenyagin’s area of ​​responsibility included the entire cycle of production of nuclear fuel and charges, from ore to plutonium produced in industrial reactors.

Creating the nuclear industry

According to the memoirs of A.P. Aleksandrov , Zavenyagin joined the uranium project in 1943 ; his responsibilities included the Giredmet Institute, where in the laboratory of Z. V. Ershova in December 1944 for the first time in the USSR uranium metal was obtained.

On December 8, 1944, Zavenyagin was appointed in charge of searching for uranium in the USSR and in the occupied territories by the resolution of the State Defense Committee No. 7102 ss / s that forced exploration of uranium; To implement the search, the Ninth NKVD Directorate was deployed.

Prior to that, Narkomtsvetmet ( P.F. Lomako ) and Narkomchermet ( I.F. Tevosyan ) were engaged in mining uranium ore in the USSR, from whom A.V. Zavenyagin took production in December 1944.

By the same decree, he was appointed responsible for matters of the country's uranium mining complex. He supervised the construction of factories in the area of ​​mining ^[3] .

After the release of the Order of the GKO of the USSR of August 20, 1945 No. 9887ss / s "On the Special Committee [on the Use of Atomic Energy] at the GKO" Zavenyagin was responsible for several areas of work:

• He was a member of the special committee and had a voice in the resolution of all issues under the authority of the committee ^[4] .
• He joined the technical council of a special committee that dealt with issues of scientific research and scientific installations ^[4] .
• Since the formation of the First Main Directorate (August 20, 1945) , A. P. Zavenyagin was the first deputy head ^[4] , oversaw the work of the special contingent ^[5] .

After setting the tasks of the Technical Council of the Special Committee, A. P. Zavenyagin joined his staff and was responsible for a large number of questions.

The main focus of his activities was mining, he was the head of the fifth section on the design and construction of mining and metallurgical enterprises, design and manufacture of equipment for them.

Another important area of ​​work was the resolution of personnel issues: by the order of L. P. Beria, M. G. Pervukhin , V. A. Malyshev , B. L. Vannikov, and A. P. Zavenyagin staffed the scientific and engineering personnel of the council section, selected experts for solving individual issues ^[6] .

In addition, he participated in the selection of construction sites for plants 813 ( PO Mayak ) and 817 ( Ural Electrochemical Plant ) ^[6] . Under the leadership of Zavenyagin and Malyshev, sites for the atomic industry were selected - PO Mayak , Arzamas-16 , Krasnoyarsk-26 , Chelyabinsk-70 and others (in those years - number plants), as well as the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site .

In 1945, A. P. Zavenyagin joined the commission under the leadership of member of the State Defense Committee A. I. Mikoyan : Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee N. A. Voznesensky , USSR People's Commissar for Electrical Industry IG Kabanov , head of the PGU B. L. Vannikov , A. P. Zavenyagin, Deputy Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee N. A. Borisov .

The commission was entrusted with overseeing the provision of Noginsk Plant No. 12 (modern JSC Mashinostroitelny Zavod , Elektrostal ) with equipment for smelting uranium ore .

This plant was provided with vacuum high-frequency electric furnaces of Soviet manufacture, due to export from Germany and import purchases ^[6] , uranium rods for the F-1 reactor were smelted in these furnaces.

He organized the construction of laboratory A and laboratory G and dealt with personnel issues ^{[6] [7]} .

In 1945, Zavenyagin's headquarters conducted an operation to search for and export to the USSR German specialists - metallurgists, chemists and physicists: Nikolaus Riel , Manfred von Ardenne , only 70 people in 1945 and over 300 by 1948 . Subsequently, it was Zavenyagin who was responsible for the work of the “German” laboratories ^[8] . At the same time, the search for technological equipment, ore reserves and already mined uranium semi-finished products under the direction of P. Ya. Meshik and IK Kikoin was organized throughout the Soviet control zone. In total, by the middle of 1946, 220 tons of uranium compounds in terms of pure metal were found (the USSR’s own reserves of uranium were still measured in units of tons) .

In mid-1946, 320 geological parties conducted exploration in the USSR alone. As a result, in addition to the already well - known Tabosharskoye deposit, the development of uranium compounds in the Krivoy Rog Basin , Estonia , and Transbaikalia was started. In the Czech Republic , mining was resumed at the Jáchymov mines, and development of the future SDAG Wismut mines began in Saxony .

Making Atomic Weapons

In June and July 1948, Zavenyagin together with Kurchatov supervised the elimination of two accidents at the first domestic industrial reactor A-1 , was in the central (reactor) hall for a long time and was irradiated ^[7] .

In the summer of 1949, at KB-11 , in the presence of Zavenyagin, plutonium hemispheres of the first nuclear bomb in the USSR were manufactured.

On August 19, 1949, Zavenyagin was appointed responsible for the delivery of the RDS product from KB-11 to the Semipalatinsk test site and for the final assembly of the product. On the night of August 29, in his presence, a neutron initiator piston was installed in the central part of the bomb. Shortly after the test, A. P. Zavenyagin drove away by car to the center of the explosion, where the car was stuck in the dust formed after the explosion, and had to return back on foot, while receiving a large dose of radiation ^[9] .

For his contribution to the atomic project by decree of October 29, 1949, AP Zavenyagin was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor ^[10] .

In the 1950s , Zavenyagin gradually moved away from the administration of industry, switching to the coordination of applied and basic research. Zavenyagin authorized the design and construction of the first nuclear power plant in the world ( 1950 ), participated in the initial stages of the construction of the nuclear fleet. The most important was his contribution to the choice of approaches to the design of nuclear reactors , while the former was a field of contention between competing groups of scientists ( N. A. Dollezhal , A. P. Alexandrov, and others).

After the shooting of L. P. Beria and the arrests of his closest employees in the summer of 1953, Zavenyagin, who had known N. S. Khrushchev since the twenties, retained his post and during the reorganization of the industry into the Ministry of Medium Machine Building of the USSR became first deputy minister ( V. A. Malysheva ), and in February 1955 - the Minister.

For exceptional merits in the development of new industries (for participation in the creation of a hydrogen bomb), on January 4, 1954, A. P. Zavenyagin was awarded the second Gold Medal “Hammer and Sickle” .

Suffered general atherosclerosis . Suddenly died shortly after the December plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU , on the night of December 31, 1956 from "heart failure that developed as a result of thrombosis of the left coronary artery" ^[11] (according to unofficial sources - from radiation sickness ). He was cremated, an urn with ashes placed in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

Wife Maria Nikiforovna ^[12] . Son Julius (1924-1998) - Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Daughter of Eugene (born 1934). Granddaughter Alisa Yulevna Zavenyagina (Bulanova) - actress of the Moscow Drama Theater. M. N. Ermolova ^[13] .

The bronze bust of twice Hero of Socialist Labor A. P. Zavenyagin is set in accordance with the Statute on the title of Hero of Socialist Labor ^[14] in his homeland in the town of Uzlovaya, Tula Region .

In the town of Uzlovaya, Tula Oblast, there is a square named after A. P. Zavenyagin ^[15] and Zavenyagin Street ^[16] .

Zavenyagin streets in Magnitogorsk ( Chelyabinsk region ) ^{[17] [18]} and Donetsk ^{[19] [20]} .

Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine in 1957 was named after A. P. Zavenyagin.

Icebreaker "Abraham Zavenyagin" conducts navigation of ships on the Yenisei to the port Igarka ^[21] .

Square and Zavenyagin Street in Norilsk ( Krasnoyarsk Territory ) ^{[22] [23]} .

The marble bust of A. P. Zavenyagin was installed in 1960 on the square named after him in Norilsk . In 1993, it was moved to the management building of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, and later - in the administration lobby (now the main administrative building of the Polar Division of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel) ^[24] .

A memorial plaque in Norilsk on the house number 1 on Zavenyagin Street, explaining in honor of whom the street is named (1976) ^[25] .

The memorial plaque was installed in 2001 on the 100th anniversary of the birth of A. P. Zavenyagin in Norilsk on the building of the management of the mining and metallurgical company Norilsk Nickel (2001) ^{[26] [27]} .

The A. P. Zavenyagin Prize was established in 1981 by the Norilsk MMC and the Taimyr District Trade Union Committee ^{[28] [29]} .

The All-Russian competition of diploma works in the field of metallurgy and metal science named after Zavenyagin is held ^[30] .

Expositions about A. P. Zavenyagin are available in the museums of Uzlovaya, Magnitogorsk and Norilsk.

• D. Alkatsev, J. Troshev . Abraham Zavenyagin. - Krasnoyarsk: Krasnoyarsk book. publishing house, 1975.
• M. Kolpakov, V. Lebedinsky . Zavenyagin formula. - Tula: Prioksky book. publishing house, 1985.
• E. A. Zavenyagina, A.L. Lvov . Zavenyagin. Personality and time. - M., MISIS, 2006.
• M.P. Grabowski . Atomic Avral - M .: Scientific book, 2001.
• F. E. Neznansky . The choice of weapons. - M .: AST: Olympus, 1997. ISBN 5-7390-0434-9 .

Zavenyagin is described as a secondary character in Viktor Suvorov ’s book “ Choice ”. The events of the book unfold in the USSR in 1939, using Joseph Stalin and his closest entourage as well as real events of Soviet history as heroes.

Zavenyagin himself was first mentioned in "Choice" during the XVIII Congress of the CPSU (b) , at which he did not get on the voting list of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) , although at the previous XVII Congress ( 1934 ) he was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee. On this basis, Zavenyagin concludes that he will soon be repressed (90% of the former candidates for the Central Committee members "erased from the horizon, do not flicker anymore"). However, due to the fact that he “erased” Berri , his superior, from the list of Lavrentiy , and then confessed his hatred to him to Stalin, the latter changes his own decision to eliminate Zavenyagin and appoints him Deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs , Beria.

The events described in the “Choice” do not agree with Zavenyagin’s official biography, which states that he became the first deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs in the spring of 1941. Also in the book are other information about the number of people under his command during the construction of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine - 108 thousand prisoners, plus 34 thousand guards and civilian employees.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s opinion about Zavenyagin:

“... journalists relish about him:„ the legendary builder of Norilsk “! Didn’t he put the stones himself? Legendary guard, or rather. Сообразя, что сверху любил его Берия, а снизу очень о нём хорошо отзывался эмведешник Зиновьев, полагаем, что зверь был отменный. А иначе б ему Норильска и не построили» ^[31] .

Мнение Андрея Сахарова о Завенягине:

«…Завенягин был жёсткий, решительный, чрезвычайно инициативный начальник; он очень прислушивался к мнению учёных, понимая их роль в предприятии, старался сам в чём-то разбираться, даже предлагал иногда технические решения, обычно вполне разумные. Несомненно, он был человек большого ума — и вполне сталинских убеждений. Я иногда задавался мыслью: что движет подобными людьми — честолюбие? страх? жажда деятельности, власти? убеждённость? Ответа у меня нет…»

• Рубченко М. Человек с большой стройки // Журнал «Эксперт», № 30-31 (764), 1-14 августа 2011. С. 52-57.
• А. П. Завенягин: страницы жизни / авторы-составители М. Я. Важнов , И. Аристов. — М. : ПолиМЕдиа , 2002. — 392 с. — ISBN 5-89180-038-1 .
• Богуненко Н. Н., Пелипенко А. Д., Соснин Г. А. Завенягин Авраамий Павлович // Герои атомного проекта. — Саров: Росатом, 2005. — С. 147—153. — ISBN 5-9515-0005-2 .
• Елфимов Ю. Н. Маршал индустрии: Биографический очерк о А. П. Завенягине . - 2nd, pererab. и доп.. — Челябинск: Юж.-Урал. Prince изд-во, 1991. — 176 с. - 9000 copies — ISBN 5-7688-0491-9 .

• Завенягин, Авраамий Павлович (рус.) . The site " Heroes of the country ."
• Воспоминания о Завенягине
• Измайлов О. Принципиальный Завенягин // Донецк: история, события, факты
• Горст О. Через тундру от Дудинки до Норильска // Камертон. — 2003. — № 33 (август). — С. 12.
• А. П. Завенягин // Сайт Государственной корпорации по атомной энергии «Росатом»