Aleksandr Shcherbakov (politician)
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Shcherbakov was a Soviet politician, statesman and a founding member of the Soviet Writers' Union, along with Maxim Gorky. Following the latter's death in 1936, Shcherbakov was transferred from his role as First Secretary to the lower role of Second Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee where he reported to Andrei Zhdanov. He was also a notable critic of Ivan Gronsky, the editor of the literary magazine Novy Mir between 1931 and 1937. He became First Secretary of the Moscow Regional Party Committee in 1938, a post he held until his death.
During the German-Soviet War, Shcherbakov served as the head of the political directorate of the Red Army in Moscow, and at the same time was director of the Soviet Information Bureau. According to Antony Beevor's book, Stalingrad, The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943, "One of the richest sources in the Russian Ministry of Defence central archive at Podolsk consists of the very detailed reports sent daily from the Stalingrad Front to Aleksandr Shcherbakov."
After suffering from years of alcoholism Shcherbakov died of heart failure on 10 May 1945, right after Victory Day, and the following year the town of Rybinsk was renamed Shcherbakov in his honour.
In January 1953, Tass announced that his death was hastened by Jewish doctors. This was the beginning of the Doctors' plot.
