Mykhailo Poloz

Mykhailo Poloz (Ukrainian: Михайло Полоз) was a politician, diplomat, statesman of Ukraine, participant of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Biography

Mykhailo Poloz was born on December 23, 1891 in Kharkiv, in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire in a noble family of excise official. Upon graduation from a realschule, Poloz studied at the Moscow city Shanyavsky National University (1910–12) and the Petrovskaya-Rozumovskaya Agricultural Academy (1912–15). During the World War I in 1915 he finished a flying school and as a praporshchik (warrant officer) fought at the Romanian Front.

Already in 1906 Poloz became a member of the Kharkiv Student Union of Socialist-Revolutionaries and in two years in 1908 he was arrested for the first time. In 1917 as a member of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, Poloz was elected to the Central Council of Ukraine, was member of the Ukrainian Military General Committee and the peace delegation of Ukraine to Brest-Litovsk. In 1918 during the advance of Muravyov's Soviet forces, he was arrested for contacting with bolsheviks and sentenced to be shot, but was rescued by cossacks.

Being a member of the UPSR's left deviation after its split, Poloz joined the Ukrainian Communist Party of borotbists as one of its leaders. During the Skoropadsky administration Poloz worked underground preparing to the anti-Hetman uprising. In 1920 he joined the Communist Party of Ukraine.

With establishment of the Soviet regime, Poloz worked in presidium of the Ukrainian Council of National Economy and headed the administrative-financial commission at the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1921 Poloz became the Plenipotentiary representative of the Ukrainian SSR in Moscow (1921–23) then headed the Gosplan of Ukraine (1923–25) and the People's Commissariat of Finance (1925–30). In 1930-34 Poloz was a Deputy Chairman of Budget Commission of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union.

As a flying specialist, Poloz laid foundation for development of civil aviation in Ukraine. On December 24, 1927 he headed on public basis the Ukrainian committee in protection of natural landmarks. At that post Poloz did a lot for protection of cultural and natural landmarks.

On January 12, 1934 Poloz was arrested in Moscow by the State Political Directorate agents. Investigation was conducted at first in Moscow then the case was handed over to Kharkiv and later to Kiev. On June 4, 1934 Poloz was convicted in connections with the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) to 10 years in correctional labor camps. On October 9, 1937 the Special triumvirate sentenced Poloz to capital punishment (Vysshaya Mera Nakazaniya (VMN) in Russian) and on November 3, 1937 he was shot at the Sandarmokh tract in the Karelian ASSR.

On March 8, 1957 Poloz was rehabilitated.

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