Pyotr Grigorenko

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Pyotr Grigorenko and Sofia Kalistratova, 1977
Pyotr Grigorenko and Sofia Kalistratova, 1977

Petro Grigorenko or Petro Hrihorovich Hryhorenko or Pyotr Grigoryevich Grigorenko (Ukrainian: Петро Григорович Григоренко, Russian: Петр Григорьевич Григоренко; 1907-1987) was a high-ranked Soviet Army commander of Ukrainian descent, later a prominent Soviet human rights activist, dissident and writer.

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[edit] Early biography

Petro Grigorenko was born in a village of rural Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. He went on a military career and reached high ranks during the World War II. After the war, being a decorated veteran, he left active career and taught at the Frunze Military Academy, reaching the rank of a Major General.

[edit] Dissident activities

In 1961 Grigorenko criticized Nikita Khruschev's policies and was transferred to Russian Far East as punishment. In 1963 he created the Union of Struggle for the Restoration of Leninism. In the 1970s Grigorenko became a member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group. The authorities sent him to a psychiatric imprisonment psikhushka from 1964-1965, and he was stripped of his military rank, medals, and retirement benefits.[1]

After his release, Grigorenko actively participated in the struggle for the Crimean Tatar autonomy, and demonstrated against the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and became a leading figure in Soviet human rights movement along with his fellow celebrated dissidents Vladimir Bukovsky, Andrei Sakharov, Alexander Yesenin-Volpin and others.[1]

He was arrested on May 7, 1969 and incarcerated for five years. Colonel-Doctor Lunts diagnosed his activities as evidence of paranoid schizophrenia and arranged to have him sent to the Chernyakhovsk prison hospital. On January 17, 1971 Grigorenko was asked whether he had changed his convictions and replied that "Convictions are not like gloves, one cannot easily change them".[2]

Grigorenko was one of the first who questioned the official Soviet version of World War II history. He pointed out that just prior to the German attack on June 22, 1941, vast Soviet troops were concentrated in the area west of Białystok, deep in occupied Poland, getting ready for a surprise offensive, which made them vulnerable to be encircled in case of surprise German attack. His ideas were later advanced by Viktor Suvorov.

In 1977, when Grigorenko left for medical treatment in the United States, he was stripped of his Soviet citizenship.

Being in USA since 1977, Petro Hryhorenko took an active part in the activities of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group foreign affiliate[3].

[edit] Name spelling versions

The different Latin spellings of Grigorenko's name exist due to the lack of the uniform spelling rule for the Ukrainian names in the middle of XX century, when he became internationally known. The correct modern spelling would be Hryhorenko. However, according to the American identification documents of the late general the official spelling of his name was established as Petro Grigorenko. The same spelling is engraved on his gravestone at the Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery of St. Andrew in New Jersey, USA. The same spelling also retained by his surviving American descendants: son Andrew and granddaughters Tatiana and Olga.

[edit] Books

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Bio at Gen. Petro Grigorenko Foundation, Inc
  2. ^ Barron, John. KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents. 1974.
  3. ^ Human rights network, in Russian

[edit] External links

[edit] See also