Nikolai Voznesensky

Who was Nikolai Voznesensky?

Nikolai Alekseevich Voznesensky was the Soviet economic planner who oversaw the running of Gosplan during the German-Soviet War. A protégé of Andrei Zhdanov, Voznesensky was appointed Deputy Premier in May 1940 at the age of thirty-eight. He was directly involved in the recovery of production associated with the movement of industry eastwards at the start of the war. His work The Economy of the USSR during World War II is his account of these years.

Following the war, however, his ideas on measuring and managing Soviet economic activity were at odds with Joseph Stalin's views, and his instrumental role in reorganizing Leningrad's economic structure before the war led to his persecution during the Leningrad Affair. In a secret trial, he was found guilty of treason, sentenced to death and executed the same day. Voznesensky was rehabilitated in 1954.

He was a close companion of Alexei Kosygin and Mikhail Rodionov.