Lazar Kaganovich

Soviet politician (1893–1991)

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Lived 1893–1991, aged 98

Wikipedia
48 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1893–1991
Aged 98
Known for
Stalin and the Katyn M…
2020

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

One of Stalin's innermost circle, Kaganovich enforced the grain seizures that fueled Ukraine's 1932–33 famine and survived decades past the system he helped build — dying in 1991, five months before the Soviet Union itself collapsed.

Biography

About

Born to a Jewish family in Ukraine in 1893, Kaganovich worked as a shoemaker before joining the Bolsheviks in 1911. He rose through party ranks after the 1917 Revolution, consolidating Soviet rule across Belarus, Russia, and Turkestan. Stalin placed him in charge of a key organizational department in 1922, using him to tighten control over the party apparatus. By 1930 Kaganovich had become a full Politburo member and Stalin's deputy party secretary; two years later, as First Secretary in Ukraine, he helped enforce grain quotas that contributed directly to the Holodomor famine. Through the 1930…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Lazar Kaganovich

Lazar Kaganovich

said5 Oct 1990

Every time they say that what's happening in the country is... Stalin's fault.

— Interview (5 October 1990) as quoted in La Repubblica

Lazar Kaganovich

said5 Oct 1990

First, Stalin is disowned, now, little by little, it gets to prosecute socialism, the October Revolution, and in no time they will also want to prosecute Lenin and Marx.

— Interview (5 October 1990) as quoted in La Repubblica

Lazar Kaganovich

said5 Oct 1990