World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePanteleimon Kondrat'evich Ponomarenko was born in Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia in 1902. He was named the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia in 1938; he would hold this position until 1947. During WW2, in the summer of 1941, he detailed a plan to centralize control of partisan groups active in German-occupied territories, which impressed Joseph Stalin; after a 2-hour meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Stalin created the Central Headquarters of the Partisan Movement (TsShPD), and in the following year gave Ponomarenko control of partisans in Byelorussia. He was given Vasily Sergienko, who was loyal to Lavrentiy Beria, as his deputy, however, thus Ponomarenko was effectively subordinated to Beria. In this role, Ponomarenko clashed with Main Directorate of Counterintelligence (GUKR) SMERSH chief Viktor Abakumov, who accused Ponomarenko incapable in ridding German spies from the partisan units under his control; Ponomarenko would hold the grudge against Abakumov with him, and when Abakumov was arrested during a purge in late 1951, Ponomarenko sent in his share of testimony against Abakumov. In 1944, he was named the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Byelorussia; he would hold this position until 1948. Between 1952 and 1953, he served as a member of the Soviet Politburo/Presidium. In 1954, he was made the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Between 1955 and 1957, he served as the Soviet ambassador to Poland. In 1959, he was named the Soviet ambassador to the Netherlands. He passed away in 1984.

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