The biography of Pyotr Mironovich Masherov was cut short at the moment when his political career was to reach a new level. Almost four decades have passed since his death, but still the inhabitants of Belarus remember the former leader as a crystal-clear honest person and a zealous owner.
Childhood and youth
Family legend says that the great-great-grandfather of Peter Masherov fought in the army of Napoleon and retreating in 1812, remained in Russia. He married a peasant woman and converted to Orthodoxy. Peter's parents were also peasants of the Belarusian village of Shirki. Miron Vasilievich and Daria Petrovna lived poorly, the family had a particularly difficult time in the 30s. Of the eight children of Masherovs, five remained alive, one of them was Petya, who was born in 1918.
The boy graduated from elementary school with a diploma and continued to receive secondary education. Every day he had to overcome the path of 18 kilometers. During the holidays, he moonlighted by loading logs on the railway.
In 1934, after graduating from the labor school, the young man joined the ranks of students at the Vitebsk Pedagogical Institute. A future teacher of exact sciences, along with his studies, was fond of sports and worked in a student scientific circle. In 1939, the young specialist was distributed in the district center of Rossony. The teacher of physics and mathematics enjoyed the love of students and the respect of colleagues. In addition to learning activities, he managed to unite the guys in drama club productions.
War
At the very beginning of the war, Peter volunteered for the front, fought in a fighter battalion. In the summer of 1941, he was surrounded and captured, but managed to escape, jumping on the move from a German train. With difficulty, he managed to return to Rossony and headed the city Komsomol underground. He worked as a school teacher and a collective farm accountant, at the same time unfolding guerrilla warfare in the Vitebsk region. In 1942, Masherov led the detachment, which operated immediately in several regions of Belarus. The soldiers recruited supporters and collected weapons, then went on to action. The head of the partisan movement in Belarus received the underground nickname "Dubnyak". The most significant operations of the detachment were the liquidation of the bridge across the Drissa River and a series of explosions in the railway direction of Vitebsk-Riga. In 1943, after being deployed to the Vileika region, he headed an underground organization there. For this activity, the Communist Masherov received the Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Post-war years
When Belarus was liberated in 1944, Pyotr Mironovich headed the Minsk regional committee of the Komsomol. Senior colleagues were very impressed with his activity as a Komsomol leader and soon he was offered to switch to party work. At first he worked as the second secretary of the party of the Mogilev regional committee, and then headed the Brest Regional Committee. At the suggestion of Masherov, a museum was opened in the famous fortress and construction of the memorial began. The head of the region paid much attention to the development of culture and education. Masherov went to work on foot, without security, and this earned the respect of Brest residents.
Head of Belarus
The year 1959 was marked by a new step in the career of Masherov. His candidacy was approved for the post of Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus. Then he took the post of second secretary, was in charge of personnel policy issues. In 1965, he headed the Republican Central Committee. In addition, Peter Mironovich became a member of the CPSU Central Committee and the Presidium of the Supreme Council.
The reign of Masherov was marked for Belarus by an unprecedented rise in all sectors. For 15 years, national income has grown, agriculture and industry have been actively developing, dozens of new processing plants have appeared. The head of the republic made a lot of efforts to start the construction of the Minsk metro. Tens of thousands of meters of new housing and sports facilities were erected. The first secretary directed a significant part of the funds to the development of the humanitarian sphere, his meetings with cultural and art workers became traditional. He initiated Minsk to receive the title "Hero City".
Personal life
Peter met his future wife Polina Galanova in the occupation. She was a dentist and in her office was a safe house of the underground. After the Victory, the couple had two daughters. Today, the eldest Natalya lives in Minsk, teaches university students philosophy, the youngest Elena lives in Moscow.
In his personal life and as a leader, Masherov was remembered as a person who was simple in communication and able to find an approach to everyone. He loved creativity and often attended theatrical premieres. The head of the republic traveled a lot, but especially loved Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
