Matvey Shaposhnikov
Matvey Kuzmich Shaposhnikov was a Soviet military commander, Lieutenant General and Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Novocherkassk massacre in 1962, as the first deputy commander of the North Caucasian Military District, he refused to comply with the order to attack the demonstrators with tanks.
Shaposhnikov later tried to publicize information about the Novocherkassk massacre by sending six letters to the Soviet Komsomol committee and a number of higher education institutions.
In 1966 Shaposhnikov transferred to the reserve. In January 1967 he was expelled from the Communist Party. On August 26, 1967 the Rostov region KGB opened a criminal case of Anti-Sovietism against Shaposhnikov. This is when the letters and drafts of an appeal on the Novocherkassk massacre were revealed. On December 23, 1967 the criminal case was dismissed because of Shaposhnikov's rank and his apology.
Shaposhnikov was reinstated in the Communist Party December 6, 1988.
He lived in Rostov-on-Don.
He died June 28, 1994, and was buried in the North Cemetery in Rostov-on-Don.
