1939 in the Soviet Union explained

The following lists events that happened during 1939 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Incumbents

• General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union – Joseph Stalin
• Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Kalinin
• Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union – Vyacheslav Molotov

Events

• March 10–21 — 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
• May 11 — September 16 – Battles of Khalkhin Gol
• August 19 — German–Soviet Credit Agreement (1939)
• August 23 — Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
• September 17-October 6 — Soviet invasion of Poland
• September 28 — Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance Treaty, also amendment to the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty
• October 5 — Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty
• October 10 — Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty
• November 26 — Shelling of Mainila
• November 30 — Winter War

Births

January

• January 4 — Igor Chislenko, Soviet and Russian association football player (d. 1994)
• January 6 — Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Soviet and Ukrainian football player and manager (d. 2002)
• January 22 — Mikhail Moiseyev, military officer and politician (d. 2022)
• January 28 — Viktor Shustikov, Russian footballer
• January 31 — Aleksandr Porokhovshchikov, Russian actor and film director (d. 2012)

February

• February 1 — Ekaterina Maximova, Soviet and Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
• February 2 — Valeri Kravchenko, volleyball player (d. 1996)
• February 6 — Simon Achikgyozyan, Armenian military commander (d. 1991)
• February 15 — Akbar Mirzoyev, 2nd Prime Minister of Tajikistan
• February 16 — Nikolai Sevryugin, 1st Governor of Tula Oblast (d. 2002)
• February 23 — Anatoly Dobryakov, 1st Governor of Pskov Oblast (d. 2003)

March

• March 8 — Lidiya Skoblikova, Soviet and Russian speed skater and coach
• March 31 — Zviad Gamsakhurdia, 1st President of Georgia (d. 1993)

April

• April 15 — Omirbek Baigeldi, 1st Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan (d. 2024)

May

• May 2 — Leonid Kanevsky, actor
• May 19 — Kateryna Boloshkevich, Ukrainian weaver and statesperson (d. 2018)
• May 20 — Roman Kartsev, Soviet and Russian actor (d. 2018)
• May 26
  • Merab Kostava, Georgian dissident, musician and poet (d. 1989)
  • Vitaly Galkov, sprint canoer (d. 1998)
• May 30 — Mikhail Kolesnikov, 2nd Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (d. 2007)

June

• June 20 — Leonid Gorbenko, 2nd Governor of Kaliningrad Oblast (d. 2010)

July

• July 5 — Pavel Morozenko, theatre and film actor (d. 1991)
• July 7
  • Elena Obraztsova, Soviet and Russian opera singer (d. 2015)
  • Vladilen Volkov, 2nd Head of the Altai Republic
• July 16 — Konstantin Kobets, State Adviser for the RSFSR for Defence (d. 2012)

August

• August 4 — Oleg Zaytsev, ice hockey defenceman (d. 1993)
  • August 5 — Jumber Patiashvili, 14th First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party August 14 — Vladislav Tikhomirov, 2nd Governor of Ivanovo Oblast (d. 2017)
• August 16 — Valery Ryumin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2022)
• August 17 — Valery Gavrilin, Soviet and Russian composer (d. 1999)
• August 28 — Vladimir Ivashov, Soviet and Russian actor (d. 1995)

September

• September 5 — Suren Arutyunyan, 14th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia (d. 2019)
• September 7 — Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Air Defence Forces official (d. 2017)
• September 13 — Guntis Ulmanis, 5th President of Latvia
• September 17 — Vladimir Menshov, actor and film director (d. 2021)

October

• October 2 — Yuri Glazkov, Soviet Air Force officer and cosmonaut (d. 2008)
• October 5 — Vladimir Rusalov, Russian psychologist and anthropologist (d. 2023)
• October 8 — Elvīra Ozolina, javelin thrower
• October 12 — Yuri Vasilyev, Soviet and Russian stage and film actor (d. 1999)
• October 18 — Ivan Shabanov, 4th Governor of Voronezh Oblast

November

• November 9 — Suimenkul Chokmorov, Kyrgyz film actor (d. 1992)
• November 21 — Vladimir Suslov, 1st Governor of Tver Oblast
• November 28 — Gennadi Volnov, Russian basketball player (d. 2008)

December

• December 6 — Abish Kekilbayev, 2nd State Counsellor of Kazakhstan (d. 2015)
• December 22 — Valentin Afonin, Soviet and Russian footballer (d. 2021)
• December 30 — Elena Tchaikovskaia, Russian figure skating coach and choreographer

Deaths

• January 15 — Kullervo Manner, politician (b. 1880)
• February 2 — Vladimir Shukhov, engineer (b. 1853)
• February 22 — Grigory Khakhanyan, corps commander (b. 1896)
• February 23
  • Pyotr Smirnov, naval officer and politician (b. 1897)
  • Alexander Yegorov, army officer (b. 1883)
• February 26
  • Stanislav Kosior, politician (b. 1889)
  • Vlas Chubar, politician (b. 1891)
  • Pavel Postyshev, politician (b. 1887)
  • Ivan Fedko, army officer (b. 1897)
  • Levon Mirzoyan, politician (b. 1897)
• February 27 — Nadezhda Krupskaya, revolutionary and wife of Vladimir Lenin (b. 1869)
• March 3 — Georgy Bazilevich, corps commander (b. 1889)
• March 7 — Matvei Berman, security officer (b. 1898)
• March 10 — Georgy Bondar, corps commander (b. 1893)
• April 1 — Anton Makarenko, educator and writer (b. 1888)
• April 15 — Konstantin Petrovich Grigorovich, engineer and professor (b. 1886)
• May 11
  • Polina Osipenko, military pilot (b. 1907)
  • Anatoly Serov, fighter pilot (b. 1910)
• May 19 — Karl Radek, politician (b. 1885)
• May 21 — Grigori Sokolnikov, economist and politician (b. 1888)
• July 29 — Vilhelm Knorin, politician (b. 1890)
• September 11 — Konstantin Korovin, painter (b. 1861)
• October 7 — Boris Shchukin, actor (b. 1894)
• December 25 — Ivan Dmitriyevich Borisov, military pilot (b. 1913)

See also

• 1939 in fine arts of the Soviet Union
• List of Soviet films of 1939