# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/andrei-zhdanov
# Generated: 2026-09-01T11:43:53.428Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/andrei-zhdanov"
name: "Andrei Zhdanov"
slug: "andrei-zhdanov"
description: "Stalin's enforcer of Soviet cultural orthodoxy after the Second World War, the architect of a campaign that silenced composers and poets under state doctrine. He climbed to the Politburo's inner ring and was widely assumed next in line — until his heart stopped first."
tagline: "Soviet politician (1896-1948)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%96%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2_(1941)_(cropped).jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1896-02-14"
deathDate: "1948-08-31"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           56.85
  momentum:             0.6042296072507553
  historical:           24.843984
  currentAttention:     3.356831151393084
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q207879"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Zhdanov"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Andrei%20Zhdanov"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%87_%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%81"
    title: "اندريه جدانوف"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Jdanov"
    title: "Andrey Jdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87"
    title: "Жданов Андрей Александрович"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D1%8D%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%8F%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%96%D1%87_%D0%96%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%9E"
    title: "Андрэй Аляксандравіч Жданаў"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%96%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2"
    title: "Андрей Жданов"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Jd%C3%A0nov"
    title: "Andrei Jdànov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A6%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8E_%DA%98%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%86%DA%A4"
    title: "ئاندرێ ژدانۆڤ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrej_%C5%BDdanov"
    title: "Andrej Ždanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrej_Sjdanov"
    title: "Andrej Sjdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Alexandrowitsch_Schdanow"
    title: "Andrei Alexandrowitsch Schdanow"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%BD%CF%84%CF%81%CE%AD%CE%B9_%CE%96%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%AC%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%86"
    title: "Αντρέι Ζντάνοφ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrej_%C4%B4danov"
    title: "Andrej Ĵdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9i_Zhd%C3%A1nov"
    title: "Andréi Zhdánov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_%C5%BDdanov"
    title: "Andrei Ždanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Zhdanov"
    title: "Andrei Zhdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A2%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C_%DA%98%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%81"
    title: "آندری ژدانف"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_%C5%BDdanov"
    title: "Andrei Ždanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre%C3%AF_Jdanov"
    title: "Andreï Jdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gd.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriy_Zhdanov"
    title: "Andriy Zhdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%99_%D7%96'%D7%93%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%91"
    title: "אנדריי ז'דאנוב"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrej_Alekszandrovics_Zsdanov"
    title: "Andrej Alekszandrovics Zsdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Zhdanov"
    title: "Andrey Zhdanov"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrej_Alexandrovi%C4%8D_%C5%BDdanov"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrei_Zhdanov"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://et.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrei_%C5%BDdanov"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrej_Aleksandrovi%C4%8D_%C5%BDdanov"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ru.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_%D0%96%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Andrei Zhdanov joined the Bolsheviks in 1915 and moved up fast, becoming a Central Committee secretary in 1934 and Leningrad party chief after Sergei Kirov's assassination that same year. He played a major role in the Great Purge and rose to full Politburo membership in 1939, heading the Central Committee's Propaganda Department. His standing took hits during the Second World War — the Soviet–Finnish War and the collapsed Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact both bore his fingerprints — though he led the Soviet takeover of Estonia and helped defend Leningrad. Afterward Stalin handed him the country's cultural reins. The Zhdanovshchina that followed denounced Anna Akhmatova, Dmitri Shostakovich, and others who strayed from the line; Zhdanov also launched the Cominform in 1947. Ill health and the Tito–Stalin split dimmed his star. He died of heart failure in August 1948, and Georgy Malenkov's rise began before the body was cold.